Starboy

If that were so, wouldn't they want to put some distance between themselves and Bin Ladin? Or could it be that they do not wish to bite one of the many hands that feeds them?

Starboy

hinduwoman

Maybe they realize that saying they are dying for Allah is not making Islam popular.

Sabine Grant

OXYMORON : I am not sure what this " you" means in your comments...the hint I gave in my post that I am coming from a European perspective should have helped you not percieving me as an individual who wishes to invade Irak or dumped helicopters in Iran.

Whereas it is clear to me you percieve that Palestinians are the author of a genocide and Sharon is not. Oh well.....

A comment or several were made which point to classifynig Palestinians as engaged in a holy war which I would understand to be of religious origine as defined by the term. I commented back that IMO it is not.

You have the right to disagree but it is prudent to not make so many assumptions about my political opinions.

Sabine Grant

Hello Starboy.... The OP was about whether or not the Palestinian suicide bombers who have made the claim to be " secular" are indeed secular. I believe they are. I think that some atheists may feel embarrassed by that claim and may have chosen to deny that possibility that the claim is genuine. Who wants to associate what may be non religious to violence?

In other words can a suicide bomber not be animated by the extremist islamic belief that " he is dying in the glory of Allah" to be someone who is so determined to fight for his political cause that his own life is meaningless? My point is that in the course of human history , people of various cultures have commited suicidal acts as part of their warring methods.

So I do not dismiss the validity of what those " secular" claims are. I consider the history of the Palestinian people and their ongoing condition of not having a nation. I present that political motivation can lead some of them to those acts of war.

The exultation of cheers we saw thru mass media reports after Sept 11th among Palestinians is motivated by the fact that Palestinians consider the Us as great of an enemy as Israel. The ongoing support to Sharon's policies from the Us Government has driven those folks to seeing the Us as the enemy. So they welcomed Bin Ladin's horrendous acts. As a christian I would also be the enemy if I were to communicate with a Palestinian... why ? thanks to Pat Robertson ! as a French citizen... I would not be an enemy.

I truly believe that Arafat and whomever will succeed him mean to liberate the Palestinian people from any Israeli interferences so they may form their nation with defined geographical borders, a defined government without the threat of Israelis occupying any of the palestinian territories. Arafat is an old warrier of that cause... long before Bin Ladin even came into the spectrum.

Apples and oranges have mixed in the course of that terrible palestinian/israeli dilemna.

Starboy

Sabine, I have no idea if the bombers are secular. I am not sure it matters to those that are killed or maimed by such bombers. I find the events in the Middle East very confusing. There is no doubt in my mind that both sides would like to come to a peaceful arrangement. Yet for some reason they can never quite get there. Sure Arafat was on the scene long before Bin Ladin but that still doesn’t solve the riddle. Why all the pain and suffering for so long when among both sides there are so many that would prefer peace? The only explanation I can think of is that there are outside forces unfriendly to the west that are taking advantage of this very explosive situation for their own purposes. The US has had a long history of making enemies in that part of the world. Say anything you like about the Palestinians but until they stop behaving like pawns in a game of chess they will continue to suffer.

Starboy

-RRH-

Plus, it antagonizes other muslims who don't want them giving Islam a bad name.