Fight Against Terror: Two Conflicts or One?

Terrorists hunted Israelis on two continents today, killing voters as they went to the polls in Israel and tourists as they prepared to go to the beach in Kenya.

The dead were almost surely the victims of at least two different organizations. But whether they were victims in the same war — a worldwide campaign of terror — is a question that goes to the heart of the Bush administration's widening fight against terrorism, and Israel's focused conflict with the Palestinians.

For Palestinians, and for some Israelis, the distinctions remain painfully obvious, if harder to explain overseas. Ghassan Khatib, a minister in Mr. Arafat's cabinet, rejected any link between the day's attacks, or between Al Qaeda and Palestinian militancy. "Linking the terrorism of Al Qaeda and bin Laden, which is not legitimate in our view, to the Palestinian resistance to this illegitimate occupation, is a big mistake that many people in the world are buying from Israel," he said.

While saying violence against civilians should stop, he added, "What Sharon fails to notice is that the Israelis have been killing Palestinians every day, every day."

"We cannot buy the Sharon argument that his attacks are a reaction to the Palestinian violence," Mr. Khatib said. "And I don't blame the Israelis if they also don't accept our arguments, that our violence is a reaction to the Israeli violence."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/29/international/middleeast/29ASSE.html