Excerpts: Arabs are not terrorists. Palestinians did not celebrate attacks.
US urged to step up Mideast role. 14 September 2001

+++JORDAN TIMES 14 Sept.'01: "Syria: Fight against occupation cannot be
terrorism"

QUOTES FROM TEXT: "a global was on terrorism ... cannot be aimed at
legitimate Arab resistance against Israeli occupation."

" `We as Arabs ... not terrorists ...Zionism and Zionist organisations
...are making these false accusations' "

"Tishrin accused...Peres of equating terrorism with legitimate resistance to
occupation as a way of channeling the wrath of the American people against
the Palestinians to enable Israel to profit from Tuesday's attacks."
==

EXCERPTS: DAMASCUS (AFP) - Syria's official media warned ... a global war on
terrorism being preached following Tuesday's devastating attacks in the
United States cannot be aimed at legitimate Arab resistance against Israeli
occupation.

"Arabs claim a legitimate right to resistance," the newspaper of the ruling
Baath Party said in an editorial, as the government daily Tishrin accused
Israel of seeking to take advantage of Tuesday's events by having the
Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, or Intifada, labelled
"terrorist."

The government paper Al Thawra, for its part, denounced a growing tendency
to blame Arabs and Muslims for the attacks on New York and Washington using
hijacked airliners as suicide missiles.

"Who committed the attacks? Terrorists," Al Thawra said. "Then fingers are
immediately pointed at Arabs and Islam, as if those who accuse us were
already mobilised to do so."

"We as Arabs... are not terrorists," the paper's editorial added. "It is
Zionism and Zionist organisations.. are making these false accusations.
against us."

Al Thawra repeated the government's condemnation of the attacks, but called
on the United States to react "by contributing to peace efforts in the
world," ... .

"This shock confirms that even a superpower cannot live apart from the
world, even with a ring of missiles, particularly if it ignores what is
happening on the ground," ... .

Tishrin accused Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres of equating terrorism
with legitimate resistance to occupation as a way of channelling the wrath
of the American people against the Palestinians to enable Israel to profit
from Tuesday's attacks.

On Wednesday, shortly after Israeli occupation forces killed 10 Palestinians
in a savage shelling of the Palestinian town of Jenin, Peres called on
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to "leave the world of terrorism."

"Yasser Arafat now has an opportunity to turn the page and definitively
leave the world of terrorism; this is the real test for him. One cannot live
in two worlds, being involved in terrorism while wishing to be accepted in
the world," Peres said on Israeli public radio.

"If the Palestinians leave the world of terrorism we can resume our
negotiations," he said.

But Tishrin said: "The real question is what terrorism is it that Peres
wants to combat? The Intifada is not terrorism, despite media deception and
Israeli blackmail." . . . Al Baath recalled a 1987 statement by the late
Syrian president, Hafez Al Assad, saying "we support unhesitatingly popular
resistance movements against occupation anywhere in the world, and we are
against terrorism wherever it occurs."

Assad's son, Bashar Assad, who succeeded to the presidency on his father's
death in June last year, sent his condolences to US President George W.Bush
in a telegram published late Wednesday.

+++JORDAN TIMES 14 Sept.'01: "Is a picture really worth a thousand words?"
By Ray Hanania (The writer is a Palestinian American author.)

QUOTES FROM TEXT: "American newspapers, television and radio stations are
filled with reports that tried to cast the Palestinians as the evil force
behind the attack against the World Trade Centre"

"Other pro-Israeli writers made reference to the image of celebrating
Palestinians and the Jerusalem Post made it the focus of its editorial,
which was uoted as the source for the unverified charge."
=====

EXCERPTS AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS, television and radio stations are filled with
reports that tried to cast the Palestinians as the evil force behind the
attack against the World Trade Centre bombing.

{IMRA: American media point Osama bin Laden who is fully identified as a
Saudi Arabian.}

The most damaging was based upon the least credible, a video of about 45
seconds or more that ostensibly showed Palestinians celebrating in the
streets as word reached them of the bombing of New York's World Trade Centre
buildings.

{IMRA: There is no doubt as to what they were doing.}

Immediately after the attacks, Israeli officials went on the offensive,
making two strategic public relations moves: first, Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon called for a day of mourning; the second was the full court press by
the Israeli media, with the Jerusalem Post leading the way, to elevate the
perception of Palestinian support of the bombing.

Remember, in America, perception is reality. Once stated, it is accepted as
fact.

The video was taken by an unknown British cameraman,

{IMRA: Does it matter who made the video? The videos of the crashes into the
Twin Towers were also by "unknown" cameras.}

yet it was broadcast on nearly every major American television station. It
shows an elderly Arab woman wearing a hijab and glasses dancing. Also shown
were a few men laughing and waving, and a group of young children, boys, who
were waving the Palestinian flags and laughing out loud.

{IMRA: Also showed firing of weapons in the air which BBC omitted after its
first airing.

On its face, the images of the 20 or so Palestinians could have reflected
almost anything. No one was quoted. Yet, all the announcers insisted that
the video showed "Palestinians celebrating" the bombing and handing out
sweets, "a common Arab celebration custom."

These 20 or so "dancing Palestinians" and this one woman with glasses
suddenly became the symbols of more than 3.5 million Palestinians who live
either under Israeli occupation or in refugee camps.

{IMRA: There were photos of celebrations in Lebanon.}

The fact that Palestinian National Authority President Yasser Arafat and
more than two dozen Palestinian organisations in the West Bank and Gaza had
denounced the bombings seemed inconsequential in the face of this short,
unconfirmed video report. The fact that nearly every major Arab country
denounced the bombing didn't matter either. All that mattered was that it
had been shown and that pro-Israeli advocates who swarmed on the media in
the hours after the bombing made reference to "the Palestinians who danced
in the streets and handed out sweets to celebrate" the bombing in New York.

{IMRA: No one asked how did Islam produce such killers.Evidently, Muslim
religious authorities were silent.}

Sharon cleverly linked the bombing to the attacks against Israelis. His
subordinates then went on a media offensive to "drill" the point, meaning
that they were to reinforce the concept in the minds of the Americans.

Other pro-Israeli writers made reference to the image of celebrating
Palestinians and the Jerusalem Post made it the focus of its editorial,
which was quoted as the source for the unverified charge.

This perception, which is false, has now become the moral foundation for the
United States to act against Palestinian interests even more harshly than it
already has done. It is conceivable that the United States will now step
back as Israel steps up its attacks against Palestinian cities.

Although the United States has sided with Israel in a partisan show of
anti-Arab sentiment, it used to speak out against the use of things like
"extrajudicial" killings of targeted Palestinian leaders. I am not even sure
if the United States will protest against that practice from this point
forward, as Israelis now argue that the United States should employ the
practice in its response to the yet unidentified masterminds of the World
Trade Centre bombing. . . . Meanwhile, the official representatives of the
Palestinians are being ignored because they just don't know how to get the
right kind of attention.

+++JORDAN TIMES 14 Sept.'01:"FM warns against US isolationism after attacks"
By Suleiman Al Khalidi Reuters

QUOTES FROM TEXT: " `The attacks on American civilians were attacks on
cherished human and religious values ... and the American role in the Middle
East' "

"Arabs were worried that the US paralysis in the Middle East in the wake of
the attacks would give Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a green light to
futher aggravate regional tensions, officials said." =

EXCERPTS: AMMAN - Jordan urged Washington not to abandon an active role in
forging Middle East peace ... .

Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Khatib said Jordan would be in the forefront of
countries ready to unite in a global coalition to fight "terrorism."

"The attacks on American civilians were attacks on cherished human and
religious values...and the American role in the Middle East,"... .

... "The American role is under attack and the US should not succumb to
pressures and we hope and believe it will not succumb."

The attackers' aim was to force Washington to retrench and take a backseat,
a situation that would create a danger power vaccum that endanger regional
stability, Khatib said. . . . "Terrorism is an international phenomena and
the international community should be unified in confronting it and
combating it," Khatib said, adding that Jordan was join in the drive against
"terrorism". . . . Jordanian officials said it was understandable that
Americans would now be preoccupied with the immediate aftermath of the shock
of World Trade Centre and Pentagon suicide attacks. . . . Jordan believes
that Washington is the only power qualified to stop Arab-Israeli violence
and that it must play a more assertive role before the conflict spins out of
control.

"The United States should increase its presence and show its determination
to play a more active role in the region... The absence of active
international diplomacy may lead to a vaccum," Khatib said.

Arabs were worried that US paralysis in the Middle East in the wake of the
attacks would give Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a green light to
further aggravate regional tensions, officials said.

Dr. Joseph Lerner Co-Director IMRA