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ARABS,
MUSLIMS WARN OF ANTI-US FEELING
AMMAN, Nov. 11 (IslamOnline
& News Agencies) - Arab academics and Islamic officials are warning that
U.S. insensitivity will fuel more resentment if Washington pursues the Afghan
war through Ramadan, but say an initiative on the Palestinian cause could save
the day, news agencies reported.
Most Jordanians have condemned the deadly September 11 attacks on the United
States and the loss of civilian lives. But officials, analysts and Islamic
leaders alike blame this on U.S. policies in the Arab-Israeli conflict, Agence
France-Press (AFP) reported.
Abdul Latif Arabiyat, who heads Jordan's Islamic Action Front party -- one of
the strongest opposition force in Jordan and the political branch of the Muslim
Brotherhood -- told IslamOnline that " U.S. military strikes on Afghanistan
[are] unjust whether it is in Ramadan or any other time, were the most powerful
and strongest country in the world hits the poorest country".
"Continuing the strikes
will make it more violent and sinful". He added," we condemn terrorism
wherever its source is, but what the U.S. is doing is terrorism," he added.
"Bush's statement on continuing the strikes in Ramadan is an offence
against every Muslim," adding " it will stir-up the feelings of the
Muslims."
Mounir Shafik, a Jordanian
intellectual said that "U.S. strikes on Afghanistan are not legitimate, it
is condemned whether they were in Ramadan or not. If the strikes continued in
Ramadan, Afghani people will suffer more and then there will be a challenge to
all Arabs and Muslims."
"The most dangerous
thing is that the war could extend to other countries other than
Afghanistan," he added. "There were statements saying that some Arab
countries expected to be under attack".
Earlier, Jordan's King
Abdullah vowed that the U.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan should continue until
the U.S. achieves its military objectives.
The Jordanian monarch, in an
interview to BBC-TV, said "that might necessitate the campaign carrying on
during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, despite reservations in the Islamic
world".
He also said that he was
"open to suggestions" about the deployment of Jordanian troops in
Afghanistan, whether as peacekeepers or special forces.
On the question of continuing
the bombing during Ramadan, King Abdullah said religious holidays were
"sensitive for people... and that increases the imperative for military
commanders to bring this to a quick solution".
"Out of adversity comes
tremendous hope of the world coming together for the better... but definitely
leading into Ramadan there are going to be a lot of reservations if the campaign
is going to continue," he said.
Ramadan is the ninth month in
Islam's lunar calendar when Muslims believe Allah revealed the holy Koran to the
Prophet Mohammad, and fasting it is one of the five pillars of Islam.
It is a special time of worship, charitable acts and purification during which
Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, and when they refrain from smoking during
daylight hours.
Ramadan this year will start with the sighting of the new moon probably on
Friday or Saturday.
World leaders in and outside the Arab world have called publicly and privately
for a halt to the military strikes, to spare the feelings of Muslims whose
tempers often run short during Ramadan.
But the United States has made it clear the military campaign will not be
halted.
"We're going to do what's necessary to go after him (prime terror suspect
Osama bin Laden) and we are not going to hold back," US Secretary of State
Colin Powell said last week, asked whether Washington would consider a bombing
pause during Ramadan.
For Kamal Salibi, a professor emeritus of history at the American University of
Beirut and director of the Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies in Jordan, the
United States is both "clumsy and insensitive".
"The Americans are trying hard, very hard, to bend over backwards, to say
they are not fighting Islam, and that is clumsy," said Salibi, who is a
respected historian and author of several books.
"Their political idiom is not politically understood, like when they say,
'You are either with us or against us'. It is irrational to the rest of the
world where people say, 'We're not with you but we're not against you.'"
The United States can win over Arab and Muslim hearts by helping to settle the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict, setting up a Palestinian state and ending Israeli
occupation of Arab land.
"The Sunni Muslim Arab world is waiting for an opportunity to make love to
the West. All they want is a signal and what they are getting instead is blind
support for Israel at the expense of the Palestinians," Salibi said.
Additional reporting by IOL correspondent in Jordan Montaser Marai.
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