Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 8, 1993 TAG: 9303080071
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ETHAN BRONNER BOSTON GLOBE
DATELINE: JERUSALEM LENGTH: Medium
EXTREMIST ARAB VIEW: `GO TO HELL'
The hostage era may have ended, but with a Muslim extremist suspected in the bombing of the World Trade Center, the severe enmity of radical Islam for the United States and the West is far from over.Fundamentalist rage may again be on the rise, as demonstrated by recent attacks on Western tourists in Egypt and a new warning by the State Department against Americans traveling in Jordan.
"We Muslims have a hysterical relationship with American policy in this area," said Ahmed Nasrallah, director of an Iranian-sponsored clinic near Beirut.
"When you say American, we see the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the killing of our children. This is the image of the U.S. for us. We have never seen any connection between mercy and the U.S."
Asked if Hezbollah, the Lebanese Party of God, would like to improve its standing in the West or reach some understanding with the United States following the long kidnapping ordeal of the 1980s, Nasrallah replied, "No. We have reached a situation where we say, `Let them go to hell.' "
Dr. Mahmoud Azhar, a Gaza physician and activist in the Palestinian Hamas organization, said to two journalists - one American, the other French - after a long interview: "Your civilization is no civilization. It is a cancer. Fortunately, it will kill you before it kills us."
What characterizes the world view of such Muslim activists is the belief that since the Crusades, the West has been out to ruin them. From European colonialism to the creation of Israel and through the 1990 Gulf War, they see a concerted Western attempt to fracture and destroy the Arab nation.
What Western analysts may see as misstep or incompetence, Arab analysts will often view as revealing hidden, sinister motives. When, for example, the allied forces failed to remove Saddam Hussein from power at the end of the Gulf War, many Arab commentators saw it as the West's way of keeping Iraq down.
And as the West fails to intervene militarily to save the Muslims of Bosnia, further accusations of evil motive are made.
The recent disparity between how the United States reacted to Israel's deportation of 400 Hamas activists and how it reacted to what was perceived in the Arab world as minor violations of an already unfair embargo on Iraq highlighted the Arab perception that Washington seeks to cause them harm.
Though United Nations Security Council resolutions existed for both the Israelis and the Iraqis, the Israelis were not forced to bring back the 400 deportees, as the council demanded. By contrast, the United States led a bombing campaign against Iraq in January.
Except for the Kuwaitis and the royal families who own most of the gulf oil reserves, Arabs were nearly unanimous in feeling the West displayed unnecessary vengefulness and cruelty toward Iraq.
Arabs and Muslims often feel that the United States and Israel are behind the vast majority of their troubles and, indeed, of much that happens around the world. This is true both for those who see Israel and the Jews as agents of Western imperialism and for those who see Washington as a puppet of the Zionist lobby.
While some militant Muslims in Iran, Jordan, Egypt and other countries sought to distance themselves Saturday from the World Trade Center bombing, some Arab newspapers called the blast the product of an Israeli conspiracy, according to The Associated Press.
Iran said a U.S. State Department report Friday accusing it of being the leading sponsor of state terrorism around the world was part of a campaign to smear Iran.
Even such apparent acts of generosity as the U.S. relief operation in Somalia are often seen as secret manipulations aimed at destroying and controlling Muslim countries.
Most Arab press commentary when the Somali operation began focused on the suspicion that the United States was up to no good.