Arab MKs refuse to condemn Palestinian joy over U.S. attacks

By Gideon Alon Haaretz 17 September 2001

All Knesset factions except the Arab parties yesterday denounced
manifestations of Palestinian joy following last week's deadly terror
attacks in the United States, in a summary statement adopted at a special
session to express solidarity with the American people in the wake of the
attacks.

Those Palestinians who support terror, the resolution said, "could not
restrain themselves. While across the sea, people were counting the bodies
of innocent civilians, they [Palestinian supporters of terror] chose to
dance on the blood of the dead."

The resolution was supported by all Knesset factions except the Arab
parties.

The Arab factions also refused to sign the Knesset's letter of sympathy to
the American people, for the same reason: This letter, which the heads of
the other Knesset factions signed and delivered to U.S. Ambassador Dan
Kurtzer yesterday, also included a denunciation of those Palestinians who
celebrated the attacks.

The summary statement said that the Knesset shares the deep sorrow of the
American people for the loss of so many citizens in an inhumane terror
attack. It added that the Knesset views terror as the greatest strategic
threat to worldwide peace, and praised U.S. President George Bush's decision
to embark on a determined struggle against terrorism.

MK Ahmed Tibi (Arab Movement for Renewal) said that he also denounces the
manifestations of joy in the Arab street. "I feel shame and anger toward
those who expressed joy at this human tragedy," he said.

However, he added, "We are talking about a handful of rash, stupid and ugly
people, and the attempt to stigmatize the entire Arab and Islamic nation
with their exceptional acts is cheap, harmful and perverted."

Kurtzer, upon accepting the Knesset's letter, expressed his hope that the
U.S. would succeed in forging a broad coalition against terror, and that
even those who until now "had made the wrong decisions" would now "make the
right choice" and participate in the coalition.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the special session that those who sent the
murderous terrorists against America last week "were trying to undermine the
[world's] largest democracy, which, more than any other country in the
history of the world, has been the foundation and the basis for global
security and peace."

"The massacre of innocent civilians was meant to cause a demoralization and
loss of security in American society," he said.

But such terror, he continued, is nothing new to Israel, which "has been
fighting Arab, Palestinian, Islamic and fundamentalist terror for over 120
years. Thousands of Jews have been killed in terror attacks; Arab terror has
left thousands of widows and tens of thousands of orphans in its wake."

Terrorism, he added, is abetted by the incessant incitement in the official
Palestinian media and the mosques, which encourages people to commit terror
attacks.

Opposition leader Yossi Sarid told the session it would be a mistake to
think that the worldwide shock over last week's attacks in the U.S. will
enable Israel to turn Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat into
Osama bin Laden. It is no accident, he said, that it is the Americans who
are now urging Israel and the PA to resume negotiations.