In the wake of the suicide bombing in the Rishon LeZion billiards hall last week, articles in two Egyptian newspapers again addressed the idea of suicide bombings as a tactic. Both of the articles agreed that such attacks ? ?martyrdom operations? they call them ? are far from terrorist assaults, rather they constitute ?resistance.?
The al-Gomhoureya article states the Arab understanding of terrorism aimed at Israelis in the most forthright way. ?A basic difference of opinion exists between the US and the Arab nation over the definition of terror and resistance,? the author explains, ?On the one side, the Americans maintain that all acts targeting civilians, settlements or the heart of Israel are acts of terrorism. On the other side, Arabs hold that resistance is the lawful right of the Palestinians? an unarmed people must be allowed to defend both themselves and their land by all means available to them.? The choice of suicide bombings, the Egyptian author writes, was made because the ?Palestinians are so frustrated, desperate and enraged that they are willing to sacrifice their souls.? In suicide-murder, ?they seek to rid themselves of the degrading humiliation to which they are daily exposed at the hands of the Israeli army,? according to the article.
Another Egyptian author, writing in the al-Wafd newspaper, states, ?It would be against my conscience, let alone that it would shock Arab public opinion, if I were to urge the Palestinians to bring a halt to the martyrdom operations.? In this, the newspaper columnist states that Arab public opinion is generally supportive of suicide terrorism. A call to halt such attacks, the author writes, ?would be tantamount to asking them [Palestinians] to surrender to Sharon.? Unable to condemn such terrorism or call for a halt directly, the al-Wafd piece does at least urge the Arabs of the Palestinian Authority ?to close their ranks; indeed to develop and agree on a single agenda to prevent conflict of interest.?
The al-Gomhoureya article states the Arab understanding of terrorism aimed at Israelis in the most forthright way. ?A basic difference of opinion exists between the US and the Arab nation over the definition of terror and resistance,? the author explains, ?On the one side, the Americans maintain that all acts targeting civilians, settlements or the heart of Israel are acts of terrorism. On the other side, Arabs hold that resistance is the lawful right of the Palestinians? an unarmed people must be allowed to defend both themselves and their land by all means available to them.? The choice of suicide bombings, the Egyptian author writes, was made because the ?Palestinians are so frustrated, desperate and enraged that they are willing to sacrifice their souls.? In suicide-murder, ?they seek to rid themselves of the degrading humiliation to which they are daily exposed at the hands of the Israeli army,? according to the article.
Another Egyptian author, writing in the al-Wafd newspaper, states, ?It would be against my conscience, let alone that it would shock Arab public opinion, if I were to urge the Palestinians to bring a halt to the martyrdom operations.? In this, the newspaper columnist states that Arab public opinion is generally supportive of suicide terrorism. A call to halt such attacks, the author writes, ?would be tantamount to asking them [Palestinians] to surrender to Sharon.? Unable to condemn such terrorism or call for a halt directly, the al-Wafd piece does at least urge the Arabs of the Palestinian Authority ?to close their ranks; indeed to develop and agree on a single agenda to prevent conflict of interest.?