Palestinians danced for joy in the streets of several Palestinian Authority cities when they heard the news of the World Trade Center attack - but many foreign television viewers may never know this. Several television stations were warned by the Palestinian Authority not to broadcast the film clips of the Palestinian celebrations, and Palestinian reporters working for foreign stations in PA areas were physically threatened for having filmed the scenes. The BBC last night screened pictures of thousands of joyous Palestinians, including policemen, in Shechem, Gaza, and eastern Jerusalem - but today, BBC reported that it was only a \"handful\" of celebrants.
CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour\'s review of Arab reactions did not include the Palestinian expressions of joy. However, the station used the celebration film clips to pose some hard questions to PA spokesperson Hanan Ashrawi. Ashrawi had said earlier that the Palestinian people \"deplore and condemn these terrible acts.\" The anchorwoman then asked Ashrawi how, then, she explains \"the scenes that we will now show you and the world audience\" - and the joyous scenes of cheering Arabs flashed across the screen more than once. Ashrawi, looking pained, said that these were just a few people, that they were children - although many adults could be seen participating in the celebrations - and that at the time they did not know the full significance of the attacks.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, asked shortly afterwards by CNN about the Palestinian celebrations, said that the terrorism in the U.S. was a result of continuous incitement by \"Chairman Arafat and his media… But I don\'t think that this [the Palestinian reaction] is the main issue right now. The main thing is that the world must unite against terrorism…\"
King Abdullah of Jordan also attempted to explain the joyous Palestinians as a \"small minority.\" He added that the attack would not have happened had peace been attained last year. Former American mediator Dennis Ross disagreed. He blamed the Palestinian leadership for constantly talking about martyrdom and struggle and the like, and said that the Arab nations will \"simply have to stop using their media as a release for their outrage and anger... and to create a climate of legitimacy for this behavior... They will have to be made to understand that there\'s no free lunch...\" He said that even if peace had been attained last year, the attack would have occurred, because \"these terrorists don\'t believe in peace, they don\'t believe in Israel\'s existence, they reject everything that we represent. These groups have to be completely discredited. [Can this be done?] Well, we all have to transform our thinking. Yesterday was a transforming event. We will have to create a new priority in terms of our war on terror. We will have to form a very different international coalition [to root this out psychologically and practically]. But I don\'t think that we can just sit back and say that because it\'s a difficult task we can\'t take it on. We\'ve now been confronted with something that is worse than any war, in terms of casualties in a single day, and our thinking has to change drastically as well.\"
MTV Arab Affairs reporter Moshe Katz reports that storeowners in Baka el-Garbiye (in pre-1967 Israel) distributed free food to passersby when they heard the news. Arab leaders refused to respond when contacted by Katz for their response. Others told him that they were afraid for their lives if they were to condemn the attacks.
Official Iraqi television broadcast the following commentary, with the exploding World Trade Center in the background: \" The American cowboy is reaping the fruits of his crimes against humanity... America [is] tasting the bitter defeat of its crimes and disregard for peoples\' will to lead a free, decent life. The massive explosions in the centers of power in America, notably the Pentagon, is a painful slap in the face of US politicians to stop their illegitimate hegemony and attempts to impose custodianship on peoples... The collapse of US centers of power is a collapse of the US policy, which deviates from human values and stands by world Zionism at all international forums to continue to slaughter the Palestinian Arab people and implement US plans to dominate the world under the cover of what is called the new [world] order.\"
For more Arab reactions to the attacks on the United States, see Arutz-7\'s Arab Press Survey on our website \"www.a7.IsraelNationalNews.com\".
CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour\'s review of Arab reactions did not include the Palestinian expressions of joy. However, the station used the celebration film clips to pose some hard questions to PA spokesperson Hanan Ashrawi. Ashrawi had said earlier that the Palestinian people \"deplore and condemn these terrible acts.\" The anchorwoman then asked Ashrawi how, then, she explains \"the scenes that we will now show you and the world audience\" - and the joyous scenes of cheering Arabs flashed across the screen more than once. Ashrawi, looking pained, said that these were just a few people, that they were children - although many adults could be seen participating in the celebrations - and that at the time they did not know the full significance of the attacks.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, asked shortly afterwards by CNN about the Palestinian celebrations, said that the terrorism in the U.S. was a result of continuous incitement by \"Chairman Arafat and his media… But I don\'t think that this [the Palestinian reaction] is the main issue right now. The main thing is that the world must unite against terrorism…\"
King Abdullah of Jordan also attempted to explain the joyous Palestinians as a \"small minority.\" He added that the attack would not have happened had peace been attained last year. Former American mediator Dennis Ross disagreed. He blamed the Palestinian leadership for constantly talking about martyrdom and struggle and the like, and said that the Arab nations will \"simply have to stop using their media as a release for their outrage and anger... and to create a climate of legitimacy for this behavior... They will have to be made to understand that there\'s no free lunch...\" He said that even if peace had been attained last year, the attack would have occurred, because \"these terrorists don\'t believe in peace, they don\'t believe in Israel\'s existence, they reject everything that we represent. These groups have to be completely discredited. [Can this be done?] Well, we all have to transform our thinking. Yesterday was a transforming event. We will have to create a new priority in terms of our war on terror. We will have to form a very different international coalition [to root this out psychologically and practically]. But I don\'t think that we can just sit back and say that because it\'s a difficult task we can\'t take it on. We\'ve now been confronted with something that is worse than any war, in terms of casualties in a single day, and our thinking has to change drastically as well.\"
MTV Arab Affairs reporter Moshe Katz reports that storeowners in Baka el-Garbiye (in pre-1967 Israel) distributed free food to passersby when they heard the news. Arab leaders refused to respond when contacted by Katz for their response. Others told him that they were afraid for their lives if they were to condemn the attacks.
Official Iraqi television broadcast the following commentary, with the exploding World Trade Center in the background: \" The American cowboy is reaping the fruits of his crimes against humanity... America [is] tasting the bitter defeat of its crimes and disregard for peoples\' will to lead a free, decent life. The massive explosions in the centers of power in America, notably the Pentagon, is a painful slap in the face of US politicians to stop their illegitimate hegemony and attempts to impose custodianship on peoples... The collapse of US centers of power is a collapse of the US policy, which deviates from human values and stands by world Zionism at all international forums to continue to slaughter the Palestinian Arab people and implement US plans to dominate the world under the cover of what is called the new [world] order.\"
For more Arab reactions to the attacks on the United States, see Arutz-7\'s Arab Press Survey on our website \"www.a7.IsraelNationalNews.com\".