August 28, 2002	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Saani 18,1423

CAIRO: Saudi-born Osama bin Laden said he wanted to drive a wedge between Muslims and the West. One year after September 11, the suspected mastermind of the attacks on US cities seems to have made good progress.

The so-called “Arab street” is seething at what it sees as a US “war on terror” in which Islam is the target. Governments are on the defensive, trying to mollify the masses and maintain a key strategic alliance with the main regional power broker.

Meanwhile, Arab ties with the United States have become brittle at best, with many Arab capitals frustrated that Washington seems to have turned a deaf ear to warnings that US Middle East policy could create chaos in a volatile region.

“We understand the feeling that a superpower is hurt. We were willing and still are willing to help in combating terrorism everywhere. But at the same time we cannot be victimized because of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda,” said one exasperated Arab official, reflecting a widely held view.

When the Saudi, Egyptian and other hijackers flew planes into US cities, they may have targeted the West, but many Arabs believe they are suffering the fall-out. The frustration has translated into rising anti-Americanism.

“September 11 harmed the region more than America because it changed American policy in the Middle East and the Arab world,” said 40-year-old Ibrahim Mahmoud al-Rayyes, smoking a water pipe near the Cairo University campus where he works.

In April, students stormed from the university in defiance of a ban on demonstrations outside the campus and smashed up the nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, targeting the US franchise to protest against perceived US bias towards Israel.

Such protests have occurred only sporadically in Egypt and other Arab states since September 11. But it is a measure of the anger that demonstrators have even defied bans in conservative Saudi Arabia, where such public outbursts are extremely rare.

Earlier this year, Saudi demonstrators marched outside the US consulate in the eastern city of Dhahran.

STATE VS STREET: Predictably, perhaps, Arab officials argue that their policies are marching broadly in tune with their angry publics.

“There is no gap between the government and public opinion in this country. There is no gap whatsoever,” Egyptian government spokesman Nabil Osman said.

But that’s not always the assessment among members of the public. “The Egyptian government doesn’t want to lose US aid, so it gives the people a deaf ear,” said a bluntly spoken Egyptian car attendant, 18-year-old Mohamed Ezzat Mohamed.

Yet some analysts say the divide is not as wide as it could be because US policy has recently focused on issues where there is broad consensus among both officials and the public.

“Today there is consensus in the Arab world that the US is unfairly siding with Israel and that a war on Iraq is a pretty bad idea,” said Lebanese commentator Michael Young.

“So the gap is much closer (narrower) between regimes and society than it was right after September 11 when many regimes supported the US although Arab society didn’t really sympathize,” he said.

But governments have found it tough trying to maintain healthy ties with Washington, which provides key defensive guarantees to Gulf Arab states and aid handouts to Egypt, Jordan and others.

“I think everybody’s relationship with the United States has taken a real nose-dive, except for the Israelis,” said Rosemary Hollis, head of the Middle East programme at London’s Royal Institute of International Affairs.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil producer and a long-time US ally, has come in the line of fire as it tries to shake off the ‘guilt by association’ as home to some 15 of the September hijackers and as Osama’s country of origin. Many Saudis feel unfairly targeted by US media reports that blame the Saudi system for helping to fuel anti-Western feeling.

“Saudi Arabia stands as the most harmed nation by these events since some of its citizens were accused although the Saudi government and the Saudi people had no role,” said businessman Hilal al-Hamdan.—Reuters