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NEWSNOTES
WORLD WATCH
Israel: Unrelenting hate has surrounded
Israel since its birth in 1948. When Osama bin Laden founded his alliance
of extremists in 1998, he called it "The Islamic Front for the Struggle
against Crusaders and Jews". The liberation of the holy lands of
Al-Aqsa, that is Palestine, was among its objectives. Interestingly, bin
Laden's front initially had no group from Kashmir-but the Bangladeshi
Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami was reported to be among the five signatories.
Following the September 11 attacks there has
been an escalation in violence in Israel. For the first time, Yasser Arafat's
Palestinian police have killed their own people. This is perhaps in expectation
of the long-awaited final solution to the Palestine problem. President
George W. Bush recently said a Palestinian state has always been a part
of the US vision in West Asia-not a new position, but one that nonetheless
drew a stinging repartee from Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The
policy of appeasement was what the world had tried with Hitler, he warned.
"Israel will not be Czechoslovakia".
The need to include Muslim states in his alliance
drives Bush's foreign policy now, even though Israel is among the US's
closest allies. Whether promises of a Palestinian state can be realised
is another matter. Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak had offered
Arafat over 90 per cent of the West Bank areas and a part of Jerusalem.
Arafat rejected it. No Israeli leader can offer more, and no Palestinian
leader dare accept less.
—Samrat Choudhury
SPOTLIGHT
Why Al Jazeera is bin Laden's favourite TV channel
... And who are the other stars in al Qaida's firmament
of terror
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Osama and Zawahiri
(right) on Al Jazeera |
Sex, polygamy, government
corruption and Islamic fundamentalism-taboo issues in the Arab world.
But in Al Jazeera it comes uncensored, and with footnotes. The Arabs may
squirm in their couches but they don't reach for the remote-a reason why
on October 8 terror mastermind Osama bin Laden favoured the channel over
many others to air his views on the US. Since it was started in 1996 by
Qatar's liberal emir, Sheik Hamad-bin-Khalifa al-Thani, Al Jazeera-"the
Peninsula" in Arabic-has revolutionised the media scene in the Gulf
with its radical reportage, including interviews with Israeli leaders,
leading many to accuse it of allying with the US. Ayatollah Khamenei,
Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat ... none have been spared in its dare-all
features. But though the channel receives a $30-million annual subsidy
from the emir, the Qatar Government does not control the channel's policies.
The 24-hour "CNN of the Gulf" remains the most watched channel
in the world of sheikhs and begums-and now Americans. Everyone knows where
to go if they want a message conveyed to bin Laden and his men.
 Man
Friday: The Al Jazeera tv footage was not just rhetoric. For one, 50-year-old
Ayman al-Zawahiri-the Egyptian radical who many suspect is the "brain
behind bin Laden"-preceded the Al Qaida chief's speech. A central
figure in the jehad, Zawahiri has been credited with forging the merger
of Al-Jihad (a group he founded in 1974) and bin Laden's forces. From
the union grew the vision for Armageddon. Now the US wants him as badly
as they want their Enemy No 1. Problem is, Zawahiri is an expert at remaining
in the shadows: he reportedly underwent plastic surgery and travelled
to the US to collect funds.
 Brother
in Arms: Mohammed Atef alias Abu Hafs el Masry -military chief of bin
Laden's Al Qaida-completes the group's triumvirate. US agencies have concluded
that Atef was the operational mastermind of the September 11 attacks.
A former Egyptian police officer who joined Al-Jihad, Atef helped bin
Laden recruit Arab fighters for the Afghan wars in the early 1980s. A
skilled military planner, he has sharply improved Al Qaida's ability to
strike with precision. With Zawahiri and Atef around, no prizes for guessing
"who after bin Laden".
—Mridula Chettri Singh
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