November 29, 2002

BY ANTON LA GUARDIA

LONDON--Ever since Osama bin Laden launched his "Islamic World Front for the Struggle against the Jews and the Crusaders" in 1998, his attacks on Israel have been more rhetorical than violent.

For several years, from the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa to the Sept. 11 attacks, his network of radical Islamist groups concentrated their fury on the "Crusaders"--the United States and its Western allies.

But Thursday's attack in Mombasa, bearing the hallmarks of al-Qaida, is a strong indication that the network is now looking to target "the Jews."

Apart from al-Qaida and its affiliates, another possible suspect is Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese group, which was responsible for attacks on Israeli targets in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1992 and 1994.

In Beirut, Western news agencies received a typewritten claim of responsibility from the unknown Army of Palestine.

It claimed the attacks were carried out "to make the world hear again the voice of Palestinian refugees and shine the light on Zionist terrorism in the West Bank and Gaza Strip."

The statement said the attacks were timed to mark today's anniversary of the 1947 United Nations resolution that partitioned Palestine and allowed the creation of a Jewish state.

But the claim was widely dismissed. Boaz Ganor, director of the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism, an Israeli think tank, said he ruled out a Palestinian return to international terrorism because it would undermine strong support abroad for the Palestinian cause.

The most likely perpetrator is al-Qaida, which is known to have a network in East Africa.

The attacks in Mombasa seem to be part of a wider pattern of al-Qaida-inspired strikes by Islamist groups against Western tourists, including the bombing in April of a synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia, and October's bombing on the Indonesian island of Bali. Eleven of the 16 people killed in the Tunisian attack were German; in the Indonesian attack, many victims were Australian.

A further sign pointing to al-Qaida is the attempt to coordinate a complex attack against both the Paradise hotel and the Arkia airliner--an al-Qaida tactic similar to that used in 2001.

In an audio recording, regarded by Western intelligence agencies as genuine, bin Laden earlier in November cited the Bali bombing and other attacks against Western targets, saying: "You will be killed just as you kill and will be bombed just as you bomb. And expect more that will further distress you."

This was a clear signal of widening attacks. But few at the time paid attention to the passages denouncing Israel. Bin Laden's talk of "defending" Palestine was taken as mere lip service. Now Israel can no longer assume that it will be spared.

Daily Telegraph

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2002