Among the Palestinians, Some Sympathy for Bin Laden

[oberliner]

If reactions to the death of Osama bin Laden run the gamut among Palestinians - and do they ever - one end of the spectrum is occupied by Issam Marbough, selling used cell phones from an overturned cardboard box on a sidewalk of downtown Ramallah. Five in the afternoon finds him oblivious to the news of the day and, even after hearing it, he is more inclined to discussion of his financial situation than talking about a man known for "injuring women and children." He's not broken up about it. "There's no good to what he's doing, so he's useless," Marbough says of bin Laden. "There's no point to his existence."

The other end of the spectrum turns out to be located conveniently just around the corner, where a man steps out of a mosque from afternoon prayers. "This is another vicious crime from America against the Islamic movement," he says, giving his name as Abu Samir. "Whether he's been killed or not, this does not end the struggle." Asked to clarify what he means, the man declares, "One belief, one cause, one struggle. Against America."

His beard is black-going-to-gray and nearly brushes the chest of his charcoal sweater. He is 40, civil but reserved, and incredulous at the suggestion that the typical American, while well aware of what bin Laden opposed, has no firm notion what he was for. He makes me say it: Undoing the nation state and re-establishing the caliphate to govern Muslims worldwide. "Yes, what's the problem?" he says. "End the borders and end everything. Let it all be Islamic like it was."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20110503/wl_time/08599206929300