http://www.zoa.org/pressrel/20021101a.htm
Mimicking press reports seen elsewhere in the Arab world, an official
Palestinian Authority newspaper has accused the CIA of masterminding
last
month's siege of a Moscow theater by Chechen terrorists.
The siege resulted in the deaths of at least 118 hostages when Russian
forces used a powerful new gas to immobilize the Muslim militants holding
the theater.
Fuad Abu Hajleh, senior columnist for the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah,
wrote on October 29 that the CIA masterminded the attack in response
to
Russia's opposition in the United Nations Security Council to American
policy concerning Iraq.
According to Palestinian Media Watch, Abu Hajleh writes, "The CIA will
never
acknowledge its responsibility for this operation which claimed over
170
lives, including those of the perpetrators," and implies that France,
which
also opposes American policy on Iraq, may be next to suffer a similar
"bloody scene."
Such bizarre conspiracy theories involving the US and Israel find wide
acceptance in the Arab/Muslim world, with polls showing a majority
in the
Middle East believe reports that the Mossad carried out the September
11
mass terror attacks in New York and Washington.
Russian versia