I went to bed last night muttering about leftists that are gullible and don't check their facts. I wake up this morning thinking the same! Where I saw this on Indymedia in Israel yesterday morning http://indymedia.org.il/imc/israel/webcast/index.php3 , not more than a dozen more posts was this URL which places this wishful thinking in doubt. http://worldtribune.com/wta/Archive-2001/me_palestinians_09_13.html The repression of the Palestinians has been so severe I didn't doubt that in Nablus and the other towns that there was cheering. Arafat admitted to the NYT's James Bennet that Hamas militants did exult. Michael Pugliese
Arafat Angrily Insists Palestinians Didn't Rejoice
By JAMES BENNET
JERUSALEM, Sept. 12 — Yasir Arafat angrily rejected tonight any suggestion that Palestinians had rejoiced over the terrorist attack on the United States on Tuesday, declaring that the Palestinian reaction was one of identification and not satisfaction with American suffering.
"For your information," Mr. Arafat said, when asked in an interview about images shown around the world of Palestinians celebrating, "it is clear and obvious that it was less than 10 children in East Jerusalem, and we punished them." It was unclear how this assertion could be squared with photographs suggesting that there were more people.
In the rare telephone interview, Mr. Arafat, who donated blood today that was intended for Americans wounded in the attack, said Israelis were taking advantage of the world's focus on the horror in the United States, and perhaps exploiting its anger over Tuesday's images, to tighten restrictions on Palestinians and to assault the West Bank town of Jenin, where seven Palestinians were killed today.
Mr. Arafat, who spoke from Gaza City, emphasized that Palestinians had reason to feel compassion for Americans. "As Palestinians, we too have experienced the tragic loss of innocent civilians, who suffer from violence on a daily basis," he said. "Our hearts go out to the people of the United States during this tragedy, our prayers are with them." He paused, then, spacing the words out for emphasis, repeated three times, "God bless them."
But interviews on the streets of Ramallah and Nablus today revealed a more diverse, complex Palestinian response to the attack. Some Palestinians condemned it, while others, furious at the United States for its policies here, said they hoped America had learned a lesson.
"Some people say Israel is an American state, but I say America is an Israeli state," said Muhammed Nabil, sitting in his candy stall in the dusky warren of figs, fresh meat and sneakers that is the Nablus market.
Israelis today relished the Palestinian predicament over the terror attack. "From the perspective of the Jews, it is the most important public- relations act ever committed in our favor," wrote a guest columnist in the daily Maariv.
But Palestinian officials fanned out in the news media to counter this Israeli drive, deploring terrorism and urging sympathy for the Palestinian plight. They argued that a handful of extremists were being treated as representative of all Palestinians.
In addition to the drive to collect blood from Mr. Arafat and others, the Palestinian Authority announced that all Palestinian schoolchildren would stand on Thursday for five minutes of silence.
West Bank towns were mostly quiet after the attack on Tuesday. But in Nablus, Palestinians took to the streets joyfully, without cameras to egg them on.
In the interview, Mr. Arafat at first insisted that "they were making this big demonstration because of the siege and the escalation of the Israeli military attack against Jenin."
Told that people in Nablus said today that the demonstration was in celebration of the terror attack, Mr. Arafat acknowledged that "there are some fanatic groups, and I'm sorry to tell you that these fanatic groups have been established by the Israelis."
This appeared to be a reference to the fact that Israel, seeking a counterweight to Mr. Arafat, assisted a fledgling group called the Islamic Resistance Movement in the 1980's. The group is known better now by its Arabic shorthand, Hamas, the name for the now-militant group seen on posters today in Nablus.
Mr. Arafat went as far as to praise the United States for its handling of the staggering peace effort here. He said Secretary of State Colin L. Powell had telephoned him today, and he insisted that "there is a big effort from the American administration" toward peace.
Asked if the United States would be justified in using force against any country implicated in the attack, Mr. Arafat said, "It is their decision, not my decision." But he added, "Those who have done this fatal crime and fatal mistake against the American people have to be punished."
Nablus is reached by a road that winds through terraced hillsides dotted with olive trees and, on the high ground, Israeli settlements. With Israelis clamping down on Palestinian towns after Tuesday's violence, the road was almost empty today.The town's police headquarters is mostly rubble from an Israeli F-16 attack in May.
Some in Nablus condemned any violence against civilians. Amin Amira, a 43-year-old fruit vendor, said he was dismayed by Tuesday's demonstration. "I don't believe that this reflects the feeling of the Palestinian people," he said.
Others were more sympathetic to the demonstrators. "We go to the checkpoints and are subjected to brutal measures by the Israelis, and Americans support that," said Ahmed Takrouri, 20. "When people went to the streets yesterday, it was because of that feeling."
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/13/international/middleeast/13PALE.html?ex=10 01455886&ei=1&en=67b786c0ae3df047