Another Israeli assassination once again sparked rage in the Arab press, writes Gamal Nkrumah The assassination of Abdul-Aziz Al-Rantisi, leader of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas, at the hands of the Israelis had the Arab press up in arms. The pundits contemplated the injustices of the post-Cold War international order. They tried to predict the future. And they wrote in so many words that the Muslim and Arab world had metamorphosed into the world's whipping boy. Al-Rantisi's assassination came less than a month after the similar slaying of the wheelchair-bound spiritual founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The two murders carried out in cold blood marked a watershed in Israeli aggression and Arab impotence. Pundits pondered the ramifications. The Arab mood was grim enough before the two assassinations. The unfortunate turn of events in Palestine, as well as in Iraq, exhorted Arab commentators into producing scathing critiques. "Cowardly, unforgivable and dastardly." These were the most common catchphrases that were used in the Arab press to describe Al-Rantisi's assassination. There was much indignation at Israel's unapologetic attitude and accusing fingers were pointed at the United States. For Palestinians, the loss of Al-Rantisi could not have come at a worse time. But "defiance" was a word used in almost all headlines that appeared on the killing. "Fortitude" was another. Al-Quds, Al-Ayyam and Al-Hayat Al-Jedida, the three largest circulation Palestinian newspapers, hardly featured anything else. Al-Hayat Al-Jedida highlighted the last moments in the life of the Egyptian-trained pediatrician who arrived at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza barely alive, having sustained serious injuries to his head and neck. Outrage and grief brought thousands out onto the streets of Gaza as mourners paid tribute to their slain leader. Al- Quds spotlighted the statement by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and quoted King Abdullah of Jordan as saying that he considered the assassination of Al-Rantisi a "heinous crime" which will lead to the death of the peace process. Al-Ayyam ran "The psychology of martyrdom and the technology of assassination" by Hassan Al-Batal in which he mused about the symbolic war between military might and the right to national self-determination. "Yesterday, Abdul-Aziz Al-Rantisi raised his forefinger to the sky and yelled 'Allah Akbar'... He wished above all to be martyred but it was the American green light that sent him to his death." Al-Batal colourfully depicted the battle between the "technology of war" and the "psychology of struggle" as Armageddon. He ascribed "moral superiority" to the Palestinians and "murderous technology" to the Israelis and concluded that Israeli military superiority will ultimately succumb to the Palestinian just quest for survival and national self-determination. Talal Okal in Al-Ayyam also questioned the wisdom of Israel's policy of assassinating Palestinian leaders. "Once again Israel rejoices in carrying out its murderous policy and proclaims its determination to continue to assassinate Hamas leaders, the leadership of Palestinian resistance and Palestinian activists. "Once again the world, with the notable exception of the US, condemned Israel. The US encourages Israel to act without any consideration to international law." Saudi papers dealt in detail with Al-Rantisi's death. "How did the Arab and foreign satellite television channels deal with the body of the martyred Sheikh Al-Rantisi?" asked Saudi columnist Abdel-Aziz Al-Garallah in Ar-Riyadh. "Television channels focussed on his mangled body from the ambulance that took the dead body away to the hospital bed in the emergency room," Al-Garallah wrote, expressing outrage at the flagrant exposition of the mangled body of a martyred Muslim. At the same time he pointed out that the psychological intimidation intended by the Israelis will have the opposite effect. "What they do not realise is that Muslims find the greatest pleasure in martyrdom. For us it is like a wedding or a festive occasion," he explained. The Saudi daily Okaz also spotlighted the slaying. But the paper, like other Saudi publications, left considerable space for the latest developments concerning the Saudi authorities' clampdown on the kingdom's militant Islamists. Ar-Riyadh reported the arrest and detention of political commentator Said Bin Zaire because of his "blatant sympathy with terrorists" presumably Al-Qa'eda. The charge was based on statements made by Bin Zaire on a satellite television channel. Anti-Americanism permeated Saudi papers in the wake of President Bush having frittered away parts of occupied West Bank territory to Ariel Sharon. "Bush is no longer the US ruler. He is the president of the Security Council as well as the United Nations secretary-general, a plenipotentiary secretary of the International Court of Justice and the sultan of the world," read an Ar-Riyadh commentary that lashed out at the Bush administration. Other Saudi dailies like Al-Jazira reported the Malaysian authorities call for urgent meeting on Iraq and Palestine. Jordan's papers also dwelt on the wider global perspective. "Iraq, Afghanistan, the Palestinians, Libya and Sudan pose no threat to the US. The real threat to the US is its own policies," warned the Jordanian daily Al-Dostour. Lebanese papers were no less incensed than their Saudi and Jordanian counterparts. "Israeli assassination by American decree," wrote Talal Salman in As-Safir. Salman lamented the loss of a "great mujahid (Muslim warrior)." Salman's fury was directed as much against the Americans as the Israelis. "The US disregards Arabs. It does not take Arab sensibilities into account in any of its calculations. It humiliates their leaders to no end," he wrote. Comparing the Iraqi and Palestinian predicament, Salman observed, "They have no state, no Arab guardianship, no international protection." Lebanon's daily An-Nahar provided extensive coverage of the tens of thousands who attended Al-Rantisi's funeral. "Washington denies any prior knowledge of the assassination," the paper sarcastically reported, noting that "Israel threatens to assassinate more [Palestinian] leaders abroad." Another Lebanese daily Al-Anwar pointed out that "Sharon now plays his dirty game openly" and denounced Israeli state terrorism. Al-Rantisi's assassination also raised the broader question of the future of the region's Islamists. "This is a historic opportunity for Islamists," suggested Mustafa El-Feki, chairman of the foreign relations committee of Egypt's People's Assembly. Writing in the London-based pan-Arab daily Al- Hayat, El-Feki noted that this was an opportune moment for the Islamists to mend their ways, refine their tactics and adopt new more workable strategies. "We do not want surrender to the other, nor do we want to adopt the other's lifestyle," El-Feki stated in Al-Hayat. "First and foremost," El- Feki warned, "the issue is political in nature. It is not religious. The Salafist (militant Islamist) movements are the antithesis of the Sufi orders. The issues the Islamists are grappling with are mundane, inextricably linked with interests and objectives which are not spiritual. They bear little relation to pathos or creed." On a lighter note, another London-based pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat ran a curious front page headline "An American woman questions Saddam: He doesn't know what is happening in the outside world but he writes his diary daily." The paper reflected on the ripple effects of the appointment of John Negroponte as US ambassador to Iraq. The paper, like many other Arab dailies, also gave considerable coverage to the latest developments in Iraq. "President Bush has thrown the entire Arab region back to the atmosphere that prevailed after the occupation of Palestine in 1948," mused an editorial in Asharq Al-Awsat.
