Palestinian Sympathy For Bin Laden

[JStone]

Time Magazine: Among the Palestinians, Some Sympathy for Bin Laden... http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2069293,00.html

This is another vicious crime from America against the Islamic movement, says, Abu Samir. "Whether he's been killed or not, this does not end the struggle." Asked to clarify what he means, the man declares, "One belief, one cause, one struggle. Against America."

His beard is black-going-to-gray and nearly brushes the chest of his charcoal sweater. He is 40, civil but reserved, and incredulous at the suggestion that the typical American, while well aware of what bin Laden opposed, has no firm notion what he was for. He makes me say it: Undoing the nation state and re-establishing the caliphate to govern Muslims worldwide. "Yes, what's the problem?" he says. "End the borders and end everything. Let it all be Islamic like it was."

In a new Pew Global Attitudes poll, regard for bin Laden was down sharply across all eight Muslim populations surveyed but was highest among Palestinians, with 34% expressing confidence in him to "do the right thing in world affairs."

"Even though he's gone, a thousand leaders will take his place," says a young man named Samir, in a circle of men who gather to talk in the city's main vegetable market. A bald man declares that Arab countries should impose a three-day mourning period. "What is America doing for the people?" he asks. "They just stick their nose in where they don't need to stick their nose in, like Afghanistan and like Iraq. They don't do anything for the Middle East." The group erupts in applause.

In a cell phone shop on the main street, two women enter. "All this is bullshit," says the first, named Shair, 27. "His death didn't affect me, to be honest." But it did affect her friend Zeina, 25. "This is a loss for the Arab people," she says. "It is a loss because he stood up against the Americans and did something about it. "

It is as if time stood still. Nearly 10 years after 9/11, the same notes of frustration, disbelief and powerlessness that were sounded in the wake of al-Qaeda's attacks are greeting news of the death of its founder. "I don't think Osama bin Laden is dead," says Amal in idiomatic English, having attended the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. "I think it's an American story, and he's going to come back stronger than ever. It's a matter of time." And, she adds, "by the way 9/11 has nothing to do with Osama bin Laden. It's an Israeli operation, Mossad. They accused bin Laden and he accepted but there is no way an Arab is capable of doing this. If we were capable of doing this, we would've gotten rid of the Israeli soldiers a long time ago."

Of Osama bin Laden, dead or alive, Khaseeb says, "We like him and respect him, because he aimed at targets and hit them. Innocent Americans that had nothing to do with this suffered. Let them suffer what we're suffering."

Among the Palestinians, Some Sympathy for Bin Laden - TIME