THE
ONE group who did not benefit from these bombings was the Palestinians. Nevertheless,
throughout their investigation the police and the prosecution assumed that the
bombings were carried out by Palestinians violently opposed to Arafat and the
peace process. As almost all Palestinians are critical of those accords, being
Palestinian was, by itself, enough for one to fall under suspicion. And as Samar
and Jawad had all kinds of political interests and involvements, they were especially
vulnerable. Never mind that, as the judge said, "All of them [the defendants]
expressed the belief that acts of terrorism directed against Israeli or Jewish
targets in this country would damage rather than further the Palestinian cause.
A large body of responsible opinion holds that view, but the bombers obviously
did not."
Samar and Jawad certainly did. But, as with most Palestinians, they are also
critical of many of the terms of the Oslo peace accords. These criticisms are
widespread not just amongst Palestinians but right across the political spectrum.
All parties from Mr Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, to President Yasser
Arafat believe that the agreements are deeply flawed and unworkable. Lord Gilmour,
former secretary of state for defence and deputy foreign secretary, also shares
these views and he explained his criticisms of the peace accords to the court,
criticisms which are also shared by the former foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind.
But to criticise, and be disappointed by, the peace process is not to violently
oppose it. As Samar said, "The peace process had some serious shortcomings which
could jeopardise the peace. But it was a first step, it could give people a
breather and start change on the ground."
Jawad had started a business called 'Keeton' with his friend Mahmoud Abu-Wardeh.
It was accepted by the prosecution that this was a legitimate business attempting
to establish exports of technological goods to the Occupied Territories. So
the developing peace was clearly necessary and important to the development
of his business, as Jawad explained, "Keeton came into being in the hope that
we can export from here and cash in on business from the peace process. We had
a vested interest in the peace process." And Samar's father personifies business
interests in the region. Contrast all of this with the wording of the claim
letter: "We shall call to account businessmen...who have traded the future and
rights of our people in exchange for personal material profit."
About a week beforehand there had been a bombing at a Jewish centre in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, in which 96 people were killed. Although no one was killed
in the London bombings, they were initially and confidently linked with the
Buenos Aires atrocity and were also thought to be carried out by Islamic fundamentalists.
But it has since emerged that the right-wing military in Argentina were responsible
for what was an anti-Jewish attack, and so the perceived connection has evaporated.
Nevertheless, at the time following the Argentinean bombing there was a view
that further attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets were likely and that Britain
was high on the list of priorities. Israeli concerns about security led them
to approach the Foreign Office requesting tighter security for potential targets
in Britain as it was believed that a terrorist attack on such a target was imminent.
