CAIRO – Ten years have passed since the US and the whole world were shaken by passenger planes crashing into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York and into the Pentagon in Washington. They took down not only the symbol of free economy in the West but also the American pride in its defence, personal liberties, as well as tolerance and co-existence between cultures. The horrible attacks of 9/11 could be seen as the most influential event that has changed the image of our world in modern history. Their impact has exceeded that of the two world wars and their negative effect has overshadowed the West as well as the Muslim world. In the name of the 9/11 attacks, two wars were launched on the two Muslim states of Afghanistan and Iraq where both the invaders and the peoples of the two countries have suffered considerably. The only winner has been the weapon industry. In the name of 9/11, a ferocious anti-Islam campaign was launched in all the Western media, making a connection between the criminal assault and Islamic ideology. Innumerable measures were taken by Western countries against their Muslim communities, whether they were Muslim immigrants or Western converts, in order to marginalise them and force them to conceal their culture and Islamic identity so as to be accepted in these countries. Streams of hatred against Muslims have swept through social and political life in the West, which has witnessed politicians of the far right reaching rule or forming a strong opposition in European parliaments. This has culminated in intensifying procedures to prevent flow of emigrants from the Arab and Muslim world to these developed countries. In the name of 9/11, a clear set back in personal liberties was witnessed in both Europe and North America, where citizens suffered erosion of their constitutional liberties, because of the so-called security measures. Even the US itself has suffered much because of the stand resulting from the 9/11 attacks. Aside from losing its reputation as a protector of human rights and personal liberties, the US losses on the respective two wars on Afghanistan and Iraq are said to reach $4 trillion, the funds that had been met not by raising taxes as most wars do, but by borrowing. Consequently, 9/11 has contributed to the current economic crisis, helping to create the mountain of debt that is now tying Obama's hands. On the other hand, George W. Bush's insistence on treating 9/11 as an act of war that should be responded to with a global so-called ‘war on terror' proved disastrous to America's reputation. This was due in part to the torture perpetrated in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the US Camp Delta base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But the US strategy post-9/11 contained an even greater mistake: a refusal to face up to the basic dilemma at the core of its policy. This is the blind bias successive American administrations have continued to show towards Israel in its conflict with the Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular. Instead of exerting more effort to settle the chronic Palestinian cause, and pressurise Israel to speed up in enforcing the peace accords signed with the Palestinian Authority in Oslo, Bush administration continued to exhibit its bias towards Israel. It went even further in including the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements, namely Hamas and Hizbollah, on its list of terrorist groups. Although none of the 19 terrorist hijackers who carried out the 9/11 assaults was of Palestinian origin, the Palestinians were the nation most harmed by them. The Zionist Jewish media and politicians utilised the 9/11 events to depict Palestinian resistance as an act of terrorism threatening the existence of the Israeli state rather than a means of enabling the Palestinians to fulfil their right to live in an independent state of Palestine. After the world had started to sympathise with the Palestinian right to liberate their land and enjoy living in their independent state, 9/11 diverted the world attention away from the unfortunate Palestinians. This state of affairs encouraged Israel to escalate its brutality against the Palestinians, reaching its peak in the December 2008-January 2009 destructive ‘Cast Lead' operation in Gaza. What is even worse is that the 9/11 event and its resulting policies have divided the world into two basic camps: the modern Western civilisation and the terrorist Muslim world. Fortunately, this will finally come to an end not just by the passing of time but by the influence of the Arab Spring that managed to change the image of the Arabs and Muslims in the eyes of the West in particular and the whole world in general. By means of their civil unarmed uprisings, the Egyptians and other Arab revolutionaries have proved that they are ordinary citizens struggling to enjoy political liberty and economic and social justice just like other people seek in the modern world. Their revolutions have continued to astonish the world not only for their civilised peaceful means of protest but also for their ability to topple strong dictators that long enjoyed the support of the Western powers. Isn't it amazing that the people of Israel who were brought up with hatred towards the Arabs and Egyptians raised slogans in their demonstrations against their government that included “Walk like an Egyptian”! Hopefully, the world that commemorates victims of 9/11 attacks after the passage of one decade after the tragic event will be able to heal wounds and rifts, it caused help create a new world of tolerance and coexistence.
