What the world was like prior to and post- 11 September was the big story, writes Rasha Saad It was a week of articles marking 9/ 11. Special sections were dedicated to the fallout three years later. The bulk, analysed the impact of the attacks on the Arab scene. Ghassan Charbel in the London- based Al-Hayat drew attention to the effect the attacks had on the Palestinian scene. In "New September, Old September" Charbel said people no longer remember 13 September 1993 when the Oslo accords were signed but remember 11 September, implying that the attacks have changed Arab priorities. "Nobody thought it necessary to remember 13 September. The people of the Middle East forgot what happened then. "People no longer remember anything except Osama Bin Laden's [new] September which caused the disaster we are living in." Charbel believes that while 1993 was "a breakthrough and a major change," the picture totally differs in 2004. "The Palestinian cause is overshadowed by the consequences of 11 September, however, Palestinians are still not aware of that fact. [Former Palestinian Prime Minister] Mahmoud Abbas, who signed the Oslo agreements with Shimon Peres and who stayed in office as premier for few months before he resigned last year, tried to rescue peace, took charge of the Palestinian government, but it was in a world complicated by 11 September." Abbas' companions, Charbel argues, did not succeed in correctly judging the importance of keeping the Palestinian connection with the White House. They did not succeed in properly assessing the dangers of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian cause becoming isolated. "The current premier, Ahmed Qurei, is arguing about his authorities at a time when no government exists and no authority is found." Charbel also holds "the leaders of the organisations that launched the martyrdom waves" accountable for not understanding the consequences of 11 September and the ability of "a murderer called Ariel Sharon to use the attacks against New York and Washington in order to smash the Palestinians". Charbel explains, "Sharon increased assassinations and invasions, while knowing that they would lead to bloody responses, and he gambled that these responses would cut the last thread between the Palestinians and the Bush administration." As part of a series, Al-Hayat on Monday published opinions of Arab intellectuals on how they perceive the impact of 11 September on Arab culture. Fatemah Al-Weheibi, a Saudi writer, believes Arab culture, along with Arab politics, failed to comprehend or respond to an event as serious as 9/11 and the violence that followed it. According to Al-Weheibi, 9/11 not only saw the catastrophic collapse of the two towers but the fall of the illusion of "knowing oneself and knowing the other." The tragic event and its fallout, Al-Weheibi argues, heightened the negative impression "the other has on us". On the other hand, "we became more divided, confused and hysterical." Salah Fadl, an Egyptian critic, agrees the world changed after 11 September especially when it comes to Arabs in connection with global civilisation. Fadl said Arabs are concerned "when sparks of struggle from their region appear and when the fires of the extremists burn the projects of development such as the Egyptian travel industry. "After 11 September the West woke up to the fire approaching their homeland. The world has witnessed several changes since. Zionism used the incident shrewdly to turn the image of the movements of national legitimate resistance and independence into a kind of terrorism. Moreover, the image of the Arabs has turned from being victims of a political conspiracy and short-sighted Arab regimes which support extremist movements as a way of securing legitimacy at home, to hostile people at large. "The Arab culture, thus, was attacked because a few ignorant fanatics had hijacked religion to achieve political ambitions through criminal acts that target innocent people. This attitude, in turn, gave Zionist and American right-wingers the opportunity to humiliate Arab nations. "The US war on terrorism is to wage war against Islamic societies that are not subject to US guardianship, and to threaten those societies that oppose total obedience to it." Syrian intellectual Borhan Ghalion reaches the same conclusion, however does not believe the world has changed drastically since 9/11 despite the shock it created. "All what the attacks did was to accelerate the development of some schemes, revealed some others and strengthened a few more. "The issues still topping the international political agenda are the US policy to impose its hegemony on the world after the end of the Cold War, the war against terrorism and globalisation. They all existed before 11 September and continue to exist after, though perhaps with some modification. "Concerning the Middle East, 9/11 did not change the expansionist policy of building Israeli settlements, the unconditional support of US to Israel nor the war on Iraq that started in 1991 and ended with US occupation. "The greater consequence of the attacks is that it contributed to the reinforcement of the notion of a clash of civilisations, giving political and ideological excuses to US hegemony. "9/11 represents a means of blackmailing and a justification of hostile policies towards the Arabs more than it represents the base for a new international policy." Lebanese publisher Hassan Yaghi wrote about the dilemma that faces many Arab writers when they come to address 9/11. Yaghi accuses Arab thinking on 9/11 to be idle and believes that Arab writers, while they might provide extraordinary opinions on the subject, such ideas will be far from impressive. According to Yaghi, the reason behind this idle thought is that any Arab writer, no matter how sincere he is in his sentiments towards the victims of 9/11, is a prisoner of the images of the victims of wars waged in the Arab world, from Iraq to Palestine. Should he mention them, the writer might be accused of justifying terrorism; if he does not "he finds it difficult to consider 9/11 victims as victims of terrorism and those in Iraq and Palestine as victims of a nascent democracy." As a publisher Yaghi believes that interest in literature, criticism and creativity have all waned, giving way to discussions on Islam: is it terrorism or tolerance? "This phenomenon caused a retreat in the struggle for democracy, the establishment of a state and its institutions, the respect of civil rights and discussions on how to dissolve oppressive regimes in order to build a stable society that is not threatened by terrorism every now and then." Mishari Athyedi holds the Arabs responsible for what happened. He wrote in the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat that the culture that led a group of youths to launch the 9/11 attacks is a culture that has failed to question its foundations. "Muslims were able for the first time to see their culture for what it really is, to look at their crises in the face and to see their failure in rising up to the challenges of identity, development and modernity. "They used to think that there was no reason for them to move forward, that their problems were always caused by foreign forces and hidden hands. It didn't occur to them that they could be the source of their own problems." He says the US "is not Santa Claus; it is not the devil either. It is a state that believes in its civilisation and culture and seeks to disseminate and publicise them as a model for others. "In doing so, the US seeks to safeguard its vital interests in the long run."
