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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear Friends,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Enclosed by a</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>n
inspiring statement written by Mahmoud Darwish and signed by Palestinian
writers and Intellectuals such as: Hanna Nasser, Sari Nusseiba, Salim
Tamari, Rema Hammai, I'zzat Ghazawi, Hasssan Khader, Hannan Ashrawi and many
others.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It was published in the Palestinian daily <U>Al
Ayyam </U>on Sept. the 7th 2001. Here it goes: </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=4>"But then, nothing, nothing justifies
Terrorism"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=4>Mahmoud Darwish</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; TEXT-INDENT: 14.2pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The catastrophe that hit </SPAN><?xml:namespace prefix =
st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
/><st1:State><st1:place><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Washington</SPAN></st1:place></st1:State><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> and </SPAN><st1:State><st1:place><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">New York</SPAN></st1:place></st1:State><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> has only one name—the Madness of Terrorism. This
catastrophic event was neither a dark science fiction film nor was it the Day of
Reckoning. It was terrorism that is country-less, colorless, and creedless, no
matter how many names of gods, deities and agonies of man it may have enlisted
in order to justify itself.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; TEXT-INDENT: 14.2pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>No cause,
not even a just cause, can make legitimate the killing of innocent civilians, no
matter how long the list of accusations and the register of grievances. Terror
never paves the way to justice, but leads down the shortest path to hell. We
deplore this horrendous crime and condemn its planners and perpetrators with all
the terms of revulsion and condemnation in our lexicon. We do this not only as
our moral duty, but also in order to re-assert our commitment to our own
humanity and our faith in human values that do not differentiate between one
people and another. Our sympathy with the victims and their families and with
the American people in these trying times is thus an expression of our deep
commitment to the unity of human destiny. For a victim is a victim, and
terrorism is terrorism, here or there, it knows no boundaries nor nationalities
and does not lack the rhetoric of killing,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; TEXT-INDENT: 14.2pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Nothing, nothing can justify this terrorism that melds
human flesh with iron cement and dust. Nor can anything justify polarizing the
world into two camps that can never meet: one of absolute good, the other of
absolute evil. Civilization is the result of world societies contributing
towards a global heritage. The accumulation and interaction of which leads
towards the elevation of humanity and nobilility of consciousness. In this
context, the insistence of modern-day orientalists that terrorism resides in the
very nature of Arab and Islamic culture, contributes nothing to the diagnosis of
the enigma and thus offers no solution. Rather, it makes a solution more
enigmatic because it becomes caught in the grip of racism.</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; TEXT-INDENT: 14.2pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Therefore, when
</SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">America</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> searches for reasons to explain the animosity towards
its politics (an animosity not held towards the American people and their
globally popular culture), it must distance itself from the concept of the
"conflict of cultures". It should also dispense with the need to identify an
ever present enemy, necessary to test “western supremacy”. Instead, it should
move into a political arena, where the
</SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">United
States</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> can
meditate on the sincerity of its foreign policy. In particular it should reflect
on its success in the Middle East, where the great American values of freedom,
democracy and human rights, have stopped functioning -- especially in the
Palestinian context where the Israeli occupation remains free from answering to
international law while the U.S. provides it with what it needs of
rationalizations and justifications for practices which border on “state
terrorism”. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; TEXT-INDENT: 14.2pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">We know that the American wound is deep and we know that
this tragic moment is a time for solidarity and the sharing of pain. But we also
know that the horizons of the intellect can traverse landscapes of devastation.
Terrorism has no location or boundaries, it does not reside in a geography of
its own, its homeland is disillusionment and despair.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; TEXT-INDENT: 14.2pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The best weapon to eradicate terrorism from the soul
lies in the solidarity of the international world, in respecting the rights of
all peoples of this globe, <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>to live
in harmony and by reducing the ever increasing gap between north and south. And
the most effective way to defend freedom is through fully realizing the meaning
of justice. Security measures alone are not enough since terrorism carries
within its folds a multiplicity of nationalities and recognizes no boundaries.
The world cannot be divided into two societies, one for the rebels and the other
for the officers of the law. But then, nothing, nothing justifies
Terrorism<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT><FONT color=#000000 size=2><FONT
size=3></DIV></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>