redman Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 This is how the Arab/Muslim world should be criticizing al Qaeda (from Yahoo! News): Arafat: Bin Laden Exploits Palestinians Sun Dec 15, 1:15 PM ET By JAMIE TARABAY, Associated Press Writer JERUSALEM - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) is demanding that Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) stop using the Palestinian struggle for statehood as a reason to conduct terror activities against the West, a London newspaper reported Sunday. Arafat spoke out against the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States soon after they occurred last year. The Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) has consistently rebuffed efforts to link its actions against Israel to the al-Qaida terror campaign. Arafat's latest statement, his strongest yet, followed twin attacks last month against Israeli targets in Kenya. A Somali-based terror group with links to al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attacks and dedicated them to the Palestinians. In an interview with The Sunday Times at his Ramallah headquarters, Arafat accused bin Laden of exploiting Palestinian suffering to garner more support in the Arab world. "Why is bin Laden talking about Palestine now? Bin Laden never, not ever, stressed this issue, he never helped us, he was working in another completely different area and against our interests," Arafat said, according to the report. "I'm telling him (bin Laden) directly not to hide behind the Palestinian cause," Arafat said. A Palestinian official repeated that position on Sunday. "The Palestinian Authority and other Palestinian groups have all declared that they are fighting the occupation of the land of Palestine and not anywhere else," said Ahmed Abdel Rahman, an aide to Arafat. The Israeli government has sought to link its conflict with the Palestinians to the U.S.-led fight against al-Qaida. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites), blaming Arafat for more than two years of Mideast violence, has tried to convince the United States that Palestinian terrorism is in the same category as al-Qaida terrorism, but the U.S. government has not gone along. Recently the Israelis claimed that al-Qaida members had infiltrated into the Gaza Strip (news - web sites), but the Palestinians hotly denied that. "We are not fighting the entire world, civilization and people," Abdel Rahman said. "We don't want our just cause to be used as a cover by Sharon and his government to continue their escalation — as though if the U.S. is fighting al-Qaida in Afghanistan (news - web sites), so Israel is fighting al-Qaida in Palestine." Ten Kenyans and three Israelis were killed in the Nov. 28 suicide bombing at a hotel frequented by Israeli tourists, and two missiles narrowly missed a Tel Aviv-bound Israeli airliner that had just taken off from Mombasa with 271 people on board. A statement on an al-Qaida Web site said the attacks were a Ramadan greeting to the Palestinian people, referring to the Muslim holy month. U.S. officials said the claim of responsibility was credible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Posted December 17, 2002 Share Posted December 17, 2002 Where's Kefka when you need him? Oh wait, Arafat's a puppet of the West. Didn't you know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riggo-toni Posted December 17, 2002 Share Posted December 17, 2002 This is simply a self-serving Arafat trying to placate the West in an effort to enlist their help in condemning Israeli retaliation. Just like Al-Quaeda, Iraq never gave a @#$ about the Palestinian cause before the Gulf War. Prior to starting Fatah, Arafat had made millions as a Civil Engineer in Kuwait. The PLO later extorted tens, if not hundreds of millions of $$$ from the Saudis and Kuwait; then they promptly turned against them overnight when Saddam promised to publicly support them in exchange for their aid and support in the Kuwaiti occupation. Palestinians were actually painting arrows on the streets the night of the invasion to guide the Iraqi forces towards the residences of the Kuwaiti royal family. The Saudis cut off their financial support, and now are the biggest backers of Hamas (not to mention Al-Quaeda). So ol' Yasir Arafat Husseini (his real last name, dropped to prevent people from recognizing his blood relation to the horrid Grand Mufti Husseini) rips on Al-Quaeda. Why not? I mean they're not giving him any piece of their action. It's kind of like Al Capone condemning the violence of other mobsters. But at least he's not making up crazy stories about the Mossad flying the planes into the WTC, so I guess I can give him a little credit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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