Israel's Intelligence Service to Blame

To many Arabs, the culprit was obvious: the Mossad, Israel's intelligence service. 'Who would be the beneficiary of this?' asked a columnist in Al-Arabi newspaper, mouthpeice of the Nasserist Party. 'The Mossad, of course.' This assumption should come as no surprise: after watching Israel's behavior in the region for many decades, when things blow up, Arabs naturally assume Israeli involvement. The conspiracy theorists adduced plenty of other circumstantial evidence to support their claims. Sharon had a golden opportunity to tarnish the image of the Arabs and Muslims and cause a deep schism in Arab/American relations, they said. Advocates of this theory also pointed out that the Mossad has targeted American interests before, ever since the 1960s."

Al-Ahram Weekly Online, government sponsored newspaper, September 27 - October 3, 2001 by Omayma Abdel-Latif (story on the family of Muhammad Atta, who is believed to be key organizer of the September 11 attacks)

"There is no reason to rejoice at the misfortune of the American people, who have not yet understood that five million Jews are not worth the sacrifice of all these victims... The US's position in the Arab-Zionist conflict causes Arabs to rejoice over every disaster visited upon the American government, though not on its people, because that government has gone too far in its oppression."

Al-Ahrar, the Liberal Party Daily, September 17, 2001, by Nasserist writer 'Adel Aokayl-Gouhari ²