I did a bit of a search on the reaction to these events in the English-language media of the Islamic Middle East. What I'm finding isn't what's being portrayed on TV. The Jordan Times had a good editorial at www.jordantimes.com/Wed/opinion/opinion1.htm - this does mention Israel, and I say that just because I don't want to start a debate over Middle Eastern issues in this forum. The JT also covered the response in the Arab world to the bombings. There were 3000 people celebrating in Nablus, and sporadic celebratory outbursts elsewhere. That's it. This was in no way a widespread phenomenon. In Qatar, there was a giant headline reading "Armageddon." The lead editorial said: "Nothing can justify the murder of thousands of innocent civilians and the few among the opponents of America who celebrated the event yesterday are ignorant and misguided." The editorial also said "By revealing how vulnerable major population centers are to aerial attack, the killers have terrorized the whole world." According to the UAE's Gulf News: "Such an attack is outside the bounds of any political movement's acceptable actions." In Iran, IRNA ran President Khatami's comments expressing outrage and sympathy, as well as his pledge to stamp out terrorism. The Palestinian National Authority - and when I was in Jordan this summer I got the sense this remains the most commonly accepted voice for Palestinians - has stood behind Arafat's comments of yesterday, which included an offer to help hunt down the perpetrators. Palestinian legislators also condemned the attack, noting that many people in the Occupied Territories had family in the United States. Perhaps the most significant omission: In many West Bank cities, previously planned anti-American demonstrations were cancelled. Media coverage of this angle is not just slanted - it is flatly inaccurate. Brian Ulrich University of Wisconsin
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