- On the third anniversary of 9/11, two Saudi-financed
newspapers have launched a website to give the Arab point of view on the
attacks on America.
-
- The site is in English and contains editorials and commentaries
by Arab journalists on 9/11 and its aftermath.
-
- The articles condemn acts of terror and dissociate the
majority of Muslims and Arabs from 9/11.
-
- They also say that even though most of the hijackers
were Saudi, Saudi Arabia cannot be blamed for the attacks.
-
- Poisoned image
-
- The recent horrors of Beslan and hostage beheadings in
Iraq seem to have prompted a flurry of self-criticism by Arab intellectuals.
-
- The appearance of this new 9/11 site is a sign of this
growing trend in parts of the Arab media to condemn the violence perpetrated
by Islamic militants as poisoning the image of Muslims and Arabs everywhere.
-
- Sponsored by the London-based, pan-Arab Al-Sharq Al-Awsat
and the Saudi-based, English-language Arab News, the site commemorates
9/11 as a catastrophe both for America and the Arab world.
-
- Beneath a picture of the smouldering remains of the Twin
Towers, a series of articles written by Arab journalists over the past
three years insist on the same point - that Arabs and Muslims must face
up to the outrages being committed in their name and disown them without
equivocation.
-
- The site also functions as a continuation of Saudi Arabia's
extensive PR campaign in the aftermath of 9/11 to dissociate itself from
any connection to the attacks or funding for Islamic militants.
-
- 'Disrespectful'
-
- Readers are invited to post their reactions to the articles.
-
- The majority - mostly Americans - say they have gained
a new insight into Arab and Muslim thinking.
-
- But other postings under Arab names criticise the articles
as leaning too far towards the West.
-
- A certain Hajee Ahmed attacks the lead article for featuring
a photo of an anguished woman survivor of the World Trade Centre attack
caked in dust next to a text containing a sentence from the Koran.
-
- "It is extremely disappointing and profoundly disrespectful,"
Hajee Ahmed writes, "that you have placed the words of the prophet
Mohammed next to a picture of a woman not properly attired."
-
- © BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3646412.stm
|
