It is ironic that the Arabs who supported the US-led 1991 Gulf war coalition have distanced themselves from Washington's current anti-terror campaign, while those who opposed military action against Iraq are now key players on the regional and international scenes.
Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, Egypt and Syria, who committed troops to the 1991 war, have adopted a wary approach to the current endeavour. Several have criticised the bombing of Afghanistan.
Jordan and the Palestine Authority strongly opposed the use of force to compel Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait and both were ostracised by the Western powers after the campaign. Jordan's late King Hussein, a traditional ally of the West, was shunned and humiliated while the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, was vilified for meeting - and embracing - the Iraqi President, Mr Saddam Hussein.
Today, King Hussein's son, King Abdullah, is touring Europe to proclaim the Arab message that the West must defuse Arab and Muslim anger and alienation by resuming efforts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Last weekend, Jordanian intelligence reportedly provided Lebanon's security services with information about a plot to attack the Western embassies in Beirut. Two militants belonging to the Palestinian Esbar an-Ansar were detained and, apparently, admitted that their leaders had trained adherents for strikes against US, Canadian and British targets.
Mr Arafat rejected attempts by Osama bin Laden to "play the Palestinian card" to justify the hijack- crashes which killed 5,000 people in the US on September 11th.
Mr Arafat has also proclaimed his readiness to exercise "100 per cent effort" to prevent Palestinian militants from attacking Israeli targets.
Recognising this fact, President Bush, declared his support for a Palestinian state while his ally, the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, met this week with Mr Arafat. A third Gulf war "refusenik", Algeria, has signed up wholeheartedly for the anti-terror coalition. But then Algeria has been battling its own Islamist terrorists since as far back as 1992.
