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A detailed analysis of Amman's Bombing Samah Sabawi November 11, 2005 Today as thousands of Arabs take to the streets of Amman to protest the heinous murders that resulted from the bombing of three hotels in their home town, millions more around the world are trying to figure out just what went wrong. This is not the time to seek comfort in clichés and conspiracy theories but a time for us as Arabs to examine how it is that we've come to this predicament. The media was quick to repeat the claim that the hotels were targeted because they were frequented by Westerners. I know all three hotels well enough to know that their main patrons, especially this time of year, are Palestinians and Arabs from other countries. The hotels mostly frequented by Westerners such as the Sheraton, the Four Seasons and the opulent Grand Royal have much better security and are closer in proximity to the embassies and foreign offices - they were not targeted. Either the terrorists have chosen the more accessible and less secured targets, or they were specifically after a predominantly affluent Arab population. My guess is the later but I'll wade through some of the other theories before I try to explain why I think we have become both the weapon and the victim. The US's theory The US argued that the claim of responsibility by Al-Qaeda's Baraibn al Malik Brigade which appeared on the internet and was deemed “credible” by US intelligence was the strongest indication yet that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, is using Iraq as a base from which to expand his operations in the region. In other words, the US has unwittingly admitted to the fact that their liberation/occupation strategy in Iraq has become a spawning ground for “terror” cells that are not only threatening the US, but also the entire region. This however, did not hamper the Administration's ambition of trying to manipulate this tragedy into yet another PR campaign to convince the Arabs of the need to rally behind Bush's war on terror. I have two problems with the US's theory: First of all, as an internet junky, I am well aware of how bogus some websites can be and how much disinformation is spread on the world's information highway. So do excuse me for not subscribing to an internet claim of responsibility. The second problem I have with this theory is more of a technical one: Doesn't the so called Zarqawi have his hands full in Iraq? Does he not have enough Western Targets around Baghdad? What would compel him to intentionally export his terror into a well known Palestinian family's wedding banquet? Israel's hand
Another popular theory about the bombing came as a result of a report published in Haaretz which stated that “ Hours before the bombings, many Israelis were evacuated from the Radisson SAS, one of the hotels hit in the attacks, apparently due to a specific security alert. ”
Although the “Haaretz” statement was later retracted it had raised some serious questions: How involved are MOSSAD agents in Islamic terror cells? Did the MOSSAD actually plan the attack? The later question is popular with conspiracy theorists, but I find it highly unlikely simply because MOSSAD would not have evacuated Israelis and risked exposure to their mission. The MOSSAD is much more professional and a lot less sentimental. Besides, if they were in control of this bombing, they would have had the option of waiting for another time, or choosing a better target rather than evacuating the Israelis and opening the door to conspiracy theories.
This leaves us with the more likely scenario that perhaps the terror cells are well penetrated by Israeli intelligence and that is why Israel knew in advance. But if that is the case, if Israel did know about the bombing and did evacuate its people, why did Jordan fail to act? There are two possiblites here; a) Israel chose not to alert the Jordanian security taking the attitude of “let Arabs kill Arabs” or b)Israel alerted the Jordanian security who has miserably failed to act. The later option is highly unlikely because Jordan has been adamant about keeping the peace within its borders. There is no way that Jordan can benefit from this heinous crime so it is difficult to believe that it would turn a blind eye to is occurrence.
Jordan's Reaction
The state owned Jordan Times published an editorial today that could very well have been written by one of George Bush's speech writers. It took a cliché-like simplistic attitude to the bombing. “Terrorists hit Jordan because it embodies what they despise the most: Peace. They hit us because we are the champions of the true Islam of tolerance, dignity, respect for human life and understanding of the other.”
These are very beautiful words, but they are too simplistic to swallow. While I agree that Amman - a city I've grown to love, does embody tolerance respect and dignity, I doubt that that is what was on the mind of the bombers.
Amman is a city for those who have, surrounded by the refugee camps of those who don't. It is an oasis of peace, surrounded by war zones. In adopting George Bush's view of the world, the “us vs. them”, “good vs. evil” and “democracy vs. tyranny” we are reducing this global terrorism phenomenon to terms that would never allow us to explore, learn and treat the disease.
Understanding Who and Why? While the US is definitely responsible for the birth and rise of terrorism in Iraq, and its foreign policy is to blame for much of the disarray in the Middle East, it alone is not responsible for the bombings of Amman. Neither can I pin the blame entirely on Israel's policies of aggression and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians. There is one more piece to the puzzle and it is time we as Arabs began to acknowledge it. In all the news reports, there was one statement by a member of the wedding party that attracted my attention and I couldn't shake it off. He was talking about the bomber who purposely walked into the wedding hall before blowing himself and everyone else around him to pieces. The witness spoke of how it seemed as thought he; “the bomber” couldn't stand to see affluent people having a good time. It is important to focus on this mindset. The bomber killed the Arabs in that hall on purpose. They were the target. He loathed and despised all that they stood for. His was a statement about economic injustice.
Rami Khouri described this mindset well in his Oped piece in the Jordan Times November 11. He wrote that “The causes of the violent, often nihilistic, acts of young Middle Eastern men around the world are neither unknown nor beyond the realm of corrective policies. There are no puzzles here. The core problem is mass degradation and alienation…Burning cars in Paris and interrupted terror bombings in Sydney may achieve that which a generation of indigenous, patient scholarship, analysis and activism in the Middle East and North Africa have not elicited: serious political and economic reforms that assert the basic rights of Arab citizens to live in societies defined by decency and equality, and the indelible humanity of Arab youth who have been deformed beyond recognition by the inequities of their own tortured political cultures” It is absolutely worthwhile to read Mr. Khouris' full analysis. It is important for us as Arabs and Muslims to face the truth. Affluent Arabs and Arab governments have turned their backs to their poorer brothers and sisters. It is time they began to feel a responsibility toward their fellow countrymen. Yes, we are facing great global challenges of racism, Islam phobia, and western colonization, Israeli occupation, American aggression and the list goes on, but our duty is not to surrender to the easy realm of making excuses for our situation but rather to face it heads on. Let's us not continue to be the instrument of our own demise. Let's acknowledge that we need to care for the poor amongst us. One final thought worth nothing: If the perpetrators believed they were driven by their Islamic faith, then the irony of the outcome is astonishing. Most of the fatalities were muslims, and one of them is the beloved Syrian Film director Moustafa Akkad, who's film “the message” about the birth of Islam was the first of its kind to introduce the Western World Islam's beautiful and eternal message of love and tolerance. Mr. Akkad did more in his life to serve Islam than perhaps many who claim to fight with Islam's sward, and certainly more than his murders can dream of achieving. How ironic. Samah Sabawi, from Gaza and now living in Ottawa, is a writer and activist with Canadian Friends of Sabeel. Her work also appears in several other electronic media. Other articles by Samah Sabawi on this site: |