|
> THU SEP 13 2001 02:09 P.M. G.M.T.
Anti-Muslim sentiment grows on Internet chat rooms in wake of US attacks by Hala Boncompagni
AMMAN, Sept 13 (AFP) - Growing anti-Muslim sentiment and calls for revenge swept Arab chat rooms Thursday, as probes into the devastating terrorist attacks in the United States pointed increasingly to involvement by a dissident Saudi Islamic militant leader. "I am not a racist at all (but) look around the world: wherever there are Islamic people there is death by terror. They are barbarians from the dark ages," said one message posted on the popular Arabia.com web site. The writer, who identified himself as "diversity," said it was high time the United States stopped giving haven to the "poor and down trodden" the world over. "To be repaid, and mostly by Muslim people, by being spit on in the face has me thinking that Islam is no good," the message said. "I believe it is time to change the US thought and be more restrictive and less free about who we allow to live and practice their freedoms here," it said. Much of the passion that is being expressed in cyberworld appears to have been fueled by television pictures showing groups of Palestinians in the West Bank and south Lebanon rejoicing after Tuesday's devastating attacks. "How can people celebrate the killing of innocents," said one message. "I am not a Muslim, nor would I want ever to be. They seem to be a hateful, crazy lot bent on destroying all other people they do not agree with," the writer said. Someone else stressed that the Palestinians who are locked in a deadly uprising against Israeli rule for almost a year should clearly understand that "celebrating will not help them win against Israel". Some writers stressed that the attacks were the direct result of the United States turning a blind eye to the bloodshed in the Middle East. "Seeing how the United States of America turned away blindly during 53 years of genocide (Arab-Israeli conflict), I can see how they (Palestinians) would be celebrating our demise." But writer "usaarmyranger" said the United States should disengage from the Middle East conflict, leaving Palestinians and Israelis to fight it out until Israel "eventually wipes Arabs from the earth or maybe they would destroy each other." Investigators from Washington to Paris, Rome and other European cities, meanwhile, toiled to find out who was behind the kamikaze attacks with hijacked airplanes that killed thousands of people in the United States on Tuesday. The main suspect thought to be behind the terrorist who hijacked four airliners, crashing three of them into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, is the network of Islamists led by exiled Saudi multi-millionaire Osama bin Laden. These findings are prompting Arabs across the world to scramble to dispel fears that their community will be the target of a vicious and unjustified backlash. "What is happening in the Islamic world does not have anything to do with the core of Islam. Islam never embraced violence, killing innocents, terror. Please stop stereotyping," urged one message. Another offered words of advise to Muslims and other ethnic groups in the United States: "I advise you to be careful in your day-to-day life, especially females with (Islamic) scarves because people are not always rational in these circumstances." One US respondent acknowledged that Arabs and Muslims should not be put in the same basket as international terrorism. "I KNOW that all Arabians and Muslims are not evil and full of hatred. Many Americans know that. Yet it is very hard for the world to hear your plight when something like this happens," the message said. But other US nationals warned of America's response to the carnage. "I used to be sympathetic to the people of the Middle East and their struggles. Not anymore," one said. "You want a war, you got it, and I will be the first one clapping and cheering when we start spanking you guys." "Send in the (aircraft) carriers and blast the shit out of them," another said, acknowledging however that "not all Muslims are at fault." The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, meanwhile, posted a statement on its web sites by its president, Ziad Asali, warning against "the rising tide of hostility towards Arab-Americans" and appealing against "scapegoating. "Even if persons with connections to the Arab world or the Islamic faith prove to have had a hand in this outrage, there can be no excuse for collective blame against any ethnic or religious community," the ADC said. Copyright (c) 2001, AFP |
