By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
The official Palestinian Authority daily newspaper has accused the
United States of ordering radical Islamists to commit atrocities in
order to justify America's war on terror and its actions against Arabs.A recent opinion piece in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida claims that after the fall of the Soviet Union, the US needed "a new straw man, whose existence would justify all its wars, all its conspiracies and its policies of supporting oppression."
The writer, Fuad Abu Hajla, who is a regular columnist at the paper, alleges that the US subsequently "urged Islamist movements to commit atrocities that tarnished the image of Islam and Muslims in the world," thereby allowing it to use its war on terror as an excuse to overthrow Arab regimes.
The columnist insists that the American-led "lunatics" were forbidden to operate in Israel - "the Israeli tyrant" - but continue to be responsible for murders, kidnapping and terror in Syria and Algeria.
Abu Hajla has made similar accusations in the past. Describing the attack on a Shiite mosque by "Salafists and Jihadists" in Syria, he wrote in December 2012:
"I'm
sure that these crazy gangs, who wreak havoc in the land (i.e., Syria),
look to the same authority who puts the tyrants in Arab lands in power -
they all function by virtue of an American authority and possess an
American identity; they are all stooges of American ambassadors and
agents."
He claimed that "the Salafists who 'practice
Jihad' in Arab capital cities and wave their swords to change Arab
society, are fulfilling the wishes of the United States - to destroy
everything accomplished by nations, and turn '[Arab] Spring' into civil
war."Palestinian Media Watch has documented other PA conspiracy accusations against Israel and the US.
The following are excerpts from the two op-eds by regular columnist Fuad Abu Hajla in the official PA daily:
"Since
the fall of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the socialist bloc in
Europe, the United States has been striving to create a new straw man
whose existence would justify all its wars, all its conspiracies and its
policy of supporting oppression.
At that
stage the Americans decided to activate their strategic allies. They
urged Islamist movements to commit atrocities that tarnished the image
of Islam and Muslims in the world, and allowed Washington to replace the
Soviet threat, as it were, with an imaginary Islamic threat. [Thus]
began the 'war against terrorism' that overthrew progressive pan-Arab
regimes and culminated with the conquest of Arab states. But it did not
put an end to even one terrorist organization from among the
organizations to whom the United States had extended its long-distance
sponsorship and for whom it had provided fertile ground to broaden and
expand.
All this was accompanied by an
American and Western mobilization against Islam, Muslims and Arabs,
depicting them as terrorists who understand only the language of
slaughter and slitting hostages' throats...
By
a political decision, Salafists became Jihadists who with weapons
confront all the tyrants of the world except the Israeli tyrant, whom
the Americans prohibited them from coming near.
That
is how we and the whole world became accustomed to seeing pictures of
cold-blooded murder and handcuffed hostages slaughtered with swords
wielded by 'Jihadists'...
It seems as if
Washington has still not got all it wanted out of these lunatics, and so
it allows them to act freely and move from arena to arena in order to
provide new despicable examples that substantiate the unjust image of
Islam in the world. They are still murdering in Syria and they are still
kidnapping and terrorizing in Algeria. They are in all the other Arab
states even if many of their cells are still dormant, to be awakened
only when given an American green light."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 21, 2013]
"Salafists or the Muslim Brotherhood winning control in Syria is no
longer the most dangerous thing to look out for in the long Syrian
Spring. On the contrary. [Muslim] Brotherhood and Salafi rule that
embody reactionary decisions and choices looks much more compassionate
than what now seems to be in store in the revolution that continues
under American sponsorship. Yesterday, I watched a video clip that
showed a group of Salafists and Jihadists attacking and burning a Shiite
mosque in the village of Zarzour [in Syria]. The Jihadists saw this
accomplishment as a great victory, part of a Jihadist raid, recorded in
history in letters with American lighting in the book of hijacked Arab
revolutions. I don't know what they call this Jihad organization whose
activists did this stupid thing, but I'm sure that these crazy gangs,
who wreak havoc in the land (i.e., Syria), look to the same authority
who puts the tyrants in Arab lands in power - they all function by
virtue of an American authority and possess an American identity; they
are all stooges of American ambassadors and agents... We've seen these
crazies before, in Afghanistan. We saw them in Chechnya. We saw their
'Jihad' in Yemen, in Libya, and in Lebanon. We saw massive numbers of
them in Egypt, and we saw their explosives in Jordanian hotels. But we
never saw a single one of them - not one single activist - confront the
Jewish occupation in Palestine. The Salafists who 'practice Jihad' in
Arab capital cities and wave their swords to change Arab society, are
fulfilling the wishes of the United States - to destroy everything
accomplished by nations, and turn '[Arab] Spring' into civil war."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 16, 2012]
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