Palestinian President Yasser Arafat arrived in Cairo on Monday for talks with President Hosni Mubarak on the effects of the US strikes against Afghanistan on the Middle East conflict. Earlier, the Palestinian Authority (PA) rejected a statement by Osama bin Laden praising the terrorist attacks on the US as a Muslim act on behalf of “the oppressed Palestinians.”
The official Kuwaiti news agency (KUNA) said the PA “rejected attempts by Osama bin Laden to link...the Palestinian cause and the September 11 terror attacks in the US.”
Bin Laden, in a videotaped statement released on Sunday on Al Jazeera satellite channel, hailed the September 11 attacks and warned that the US would not live in peace unless the Palestinians also enjoyed peace.
Bin Laden, who appeared along with Ayman Al Zawahri, the chief of Egypt’s Islamic Jihad militant group, and the leading Islamic activist Ayman Abu Gheith, said, "Humiliation tasted by America after the September events was similar to the humiliation which we had tasted for decades."
He said that the September 11 attacks were launched in support of the Palestinian uprising and the people of Iraq.
But Palestinian Minister of Information Yasser Abd Rabbo said in a statement to Radio Palestine that bin Laden’s remarks were unacceptable and that "we do not want mistakes to be perpetrated in the name of Palestine.
"It is true that there is Israeli oppression, terrorism, killing in Palestine daily, but this doesn't justify or give a cover for anybody to kill or terrorize civilians in Washington and New York or any other place," he said.
According to KUNA, Palestinian political circles say the PA has been very cautious and has refused to make any statements about the US strikes on Afghanistan to avoid negative reactions from either the US or the Muslim world.
Meanwhile, the PA has started a campaign to arrest some Islamist activists whose names were included in an Israeli wanted list handed over to the Palestinians.
Al Jazeera reported that four Palestinians were injured on Monday in clashes with PA police, who were trying to quell a pro-bin Laden demonstration staged by Hamas – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
