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Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scoobah who wrote (472)	11/20/2001 10:32:45 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 32591

Support for bin Laden may be dropping in most places, but guess where it's still going strong: Published Tuesday, November 20, 2001 Bin Laden's actions seen as positive for Palestinian cause BY CAROL ROSENBERG crosenberg@herald.com RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Osama bin Laden -- reviled by the West, hunted in his shrinking sanctuary in Afghanistan -- remains a cult hero in the streets of Palestinian territories. Many Palestinians credit him with forcing Washington to wake up to the Palestinian cause, expressing admiration at odds with their leaders' support of the U.S-led anti-terror coalition. Few count him out. Some think the Saudi-born renegade is setting a trap to lure U.S. troops toward Islamic suicide bombers. ``Bin Laden is a hero because he is defending the Islamic and Arab nation against America, which helps Israel oppress us,'' declared Said Saleh, 25, as he peddled fresh dates from a downtown stand just a few miles from Yasser Arafat's headquarters. ``Before the attacks on the United States, Bush couldn't care less about the Palestinians,'' he said. ``Now everybody is talking about establishing a Palestinian state. And the credit for this goes to bin Laden and what happened in New York City.'' As proof, several Palestinians mentioned Secretary of State Colin Powell's renewed efforts to kick-start Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, expressing the hope that conditions might ease after more than a year of so-called intifada violence. For its part, Arafat's Palestinian Authority has forbidden expressions of support for bin Laden and his al Qaeda network and banned posters, T-shirts and rallies. Palestinian security services cracked down after Western television crews filmed Palestinians cheering the mayhem on Sept. 11. They opened fire on a huge demonstration in Gaza City on Oct. 8, shooting and killing a 13-year-old boy and a 21-year-old student to snuff out Palestinian protests against U.S. airstrikes on Afghanistan. Meanwhile, many Palestinian political leaders and intellectuals have decried bin Laden's attempt to link his actions to their plight, saying they do not want terrorism carried out in their name. They also recall their isolation after Arafat attempted to adopt a neutral stand and mediate between Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and former President George Bush in the buildup to the 1991 Gulf War. Yet interviews with shoppers, salespeople and other Palestinians unable to work because of the intifada expressed admiration for bin Laden -- the man, they say, who made the West feel the fear they experience under Israeli occupation. ``The man is confronting a superpower. Everyone here appreciates this,'' said Anas, a clerk at a book and stationery shop behind the Gamal Abdel Nasser Mosque, where bin Laden biographies are hot sellers. Reports from the war front may be grim. But Palestinians cast bin Laden as a clever strategist drawing U.S. forces to a kill zone. More than a few recounted how Muslim fundamentalists sent a suicide bomber to the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 to kill 241 service personnel and then butchered U.S. soldiers in Somalia 10 years later. Even if U.S. forces kill or capture bin Laden, Anas said, ``God willing, he will become a martyr, and his place will be in paradise.'' At the Al Amari refugee camp, a 72-year-old man who gave his name as Hassan said: ``They'll run from Afghanistan they way they did from Somalia. ``Tomorrow, someone will blow himself up in a group of Americans -- poof -- and they will run away. People will forget about what happened in New York and Washington once they start doing that.'' As he spoke on an unpaved street in the dusty, cramped refugee camp, young Palestinians sped past in one, two, three, then four stolen Israeli cars. Hassan snorted with laughter at two visitors' alarm. ``This is the way we're going to beat Israel,'' he said. ``By stealing their cars.'' miami.com