How can Arab Americans condemn Osam Bin
Laden yet support Hamas and Hezbollah?

Osama Siblani:
I have not changed my perception of Hamas or
Hezbollah. We must distinguish between fighting
for a cause, liberating a land and terrorizing peo-
ple.
I oppose terrorists, including the stare of Israel,
which has practiced terrorism so many times: in
Lebanon, in Sabra and Shattilah, blowing up the
King David Hotel [a pre-statehood act by Irgun
against the British]. Throughout the Middle East,
Hamas and Hezbollah are considered freedom
fighters. Your freedom fighter is my terrorist.
George Washington was considered by the British
Empire a terrorist.

El-Amin:
We don't support the terrorism of anybody. There
are a lot of groups, both Arab and Jewish, that
receive funds that are used for a lot of good as well
that may be tied to terrorist groups. I would not
want to paint these groups with a broad brush. If we
start throwing indiscriminate blame around, it's as
bad as flying a plane into the World Trade Center.

Ahmad Moussa, assistant to Imam Abdullah Berry
at Islamic Institute of Knowledge, Detroit:
The people who did these acts [World Trade
Center/Pentagon] are not Muslims ... Hamas and
Hezbollah are different. They are struggling to save
their homes, save their country. This is understand-
able.

Hamad:
I don't see where is the connection here. I under-
stand our government has classified Hamas and
Hezbollah as terrorist groups. But across the Arab
world, they are not seen as terrorist organizations;
they are seen as human rights organizations.

INTERNAL DISSENT from page 18

They believe that they can detach Peres from his
party, and force him to leave while the other Labor min-
isters stay on, thereby preserving the unity framework
that is so important to Sharon at home and abroad.

No Arrests

For his part, Arafat has discerned the fissures on the
Israeli side and is pointing them up in all his diplo-
matic conversations.
The Palestinian line is that Sharon and the hawks
have given the Israeli army tacit permission to shoot
and kill indiscriminately, while the Palestinian
Authority is doing its best to observe the cease-fire.
Israeli intelligence sources say the Palestinian Authority
is doing more than in the past. But they claim that
Palestinian officials are unwilling to arrest terrorists,
which Israel considers the chief criteu'an of good faith.
During their meeting last week, Pere: handed
Arafat a list of 108 people that Isr.
'vs are
-actively engaged in terrorism. Not oi.

Attalla:
I condemn terrorism by both sides. There's such a
thing as state-sponsored terrorism. Israelis are guilty
of it. Palestinians are guilty of it. The guys who
attacked the WTC are definitely guilty of it.
I condemn terrorist bombings in Israel. I also con-
demn the Israelis for using Fl6s. If you have a mili-
tary presence in these territories, you're stirring up
trouble.
The U.S. has to he a leader in this: If a country is
wrong, we have to say, "You're wrong."
My understanding is Hamas and Hezbollah are in
their territory, fighting their own battles. In the eyes
of the U.S., they are terrorists. In the eyes of most of
the Middle East, they're nor.
Just as America in the 1700s fought to establish
the U.S., so the Palestinians are fighting to establish
their state.
Peace only comes when you give your enemy what
you desire for yourself. Hopelessness creates extrem-
ism. I am a visionary. I believe that, one day, once
we get past these obstacles, we will form a
Palestinian/Israeli union that will knock the world
off its feet.

Ahwal:
I never had positive thoughts about Hamas and
Hezbollah all along. If they are perpetrating vio-
lence, I always will condemn them.
I believe hurting an Israeli child, or an old man or
women does not bring us independence
Hamas was a creation of Israel to oppose Yasser
Arafat [and the Palestinian Liberation Organization],
just like the U.S. supplied weapons to the Taliban.
Hamas is not doing a favor to the Palestinians, but
the repression by Israel is not doing the Palestinian a
favor either.

.

Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, Islamic House of
Wisdom, Dearborn Heights:
The Palestinians are saying they are under occupa-

Israel Insight

THE ISSUE

The American-led coalition against Iraq following the
1990 invasion of Ktrwait completely excluded Israel,

ostensibly to protect Arab sensitivities. In contrast,
sources are indicating that Israel will take part, if per
quietly, in the anti-terror coalition now being
formed by President George W. Bush.

BEEIDID THE ISSUE

Some reports last month revealed that Israel's intelli-
gence agency, the Mossad, tipped off the Americans to
a coming major attack on U.S. soil just days before the
terrorism in New York and Washington on Sept. 11. -
Israel is said to continue to work closely with American
intelligence agencies, sharing information. And armed
with a Knesset parliamentary resolution that fully backs
a U.S. military response, Israel stands ready to partner
with the U.S., especially to root out terrorists harbored
by her neighbors, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria.

—

Allan Gale, Jewish. Community Council

tion. They show the desperation of their lives and
their situation. The Palestinians are saying, "If you
want to end the intifada [uprising], end the occupa-
tion." Palestinians say, "We have been negotiating 10
years, we didn't get anything out of it."
It is painful to see the situation.
All our religions talk about justice. We want to
have peace; we want to have justice. We can't have it
the way things are going now ...
When it comes to justice, it doesn't matter what I
like, what I don't like, who is my friend, who is not
my friend. In the Koran, it says, "Don't let hostility
and hate stop you from being just. Justice is an order
— God is just and He orders us to be just."
That is the solution for our problems in the
Middle East ...
When you talk to the Middle East, you cannot
mix the situations. If the Israelis do justice, we are
for it. If the Palestinians do justice, we are for it. It
has nothing to do with the attacks on the WTC and
Pentagon.

Haaris Ahmad, local director, Council on American
Islamic Relations, Lathrup Village:
There is provocation on both sides. You don't have
Baruch Goldstein in a vacuum; you don't have sui-
cide bombs in a vacuum.
Some people condemn Osama bin Laden and sup-
port Hamas and Hezbollah because they view them
as two distinct situations. Many people view Hamas
and Hezbollah as freedom fighters ...
The difference between terrorists and freedom
fighters: Terrorists target civilians; freedom fighters,
it's a war — soldiers killing soldiers.
If killing civilians takes place, no terrorism is justi-
fied.
I strongly feel people have hijacked Islam and used
it for political purposes. D

— Story Development Editor Keri Guten Cohen and
Staff Writer Harry Kirsbaum contributed to this story.

arrested by the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinian sources say it is politically impossible for
Arafat to make wholesale arrests of Hamas and
Islamic Jihad operatives, as he did back in the mid-
1990s following a wave of bus bombings inside Israel,.
These sources maintain that the two fundamen-
talist movements would abide by the cease-fire,
without formally accepting it, if only the IDF
would enable it to take hold. But the bomb in
Jerusalem on Monday suggests otherwise.
If the cease-fire collapses — as it surely would
have had the Jerusalem bomb claimed lives — some
observers predict an unprecedented, aggressive Israeli
response.
On the political plane, this scenario could well spell
the end of the unity government, at least in its present
form. And even if Peres leaves while other Labor minis-
ters remain, the departure of the Nobel Peace Prize lau-
reate could leave the government's image, both at home
and abroad, seriously compromised. D

For the latest Mideast news, log on to

www.detroitjewishnews.com

10/5

2001

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