Posted on: Sunday, February 2, 2003
COLUMBIA LOST
Catastrophe induces tears in India, Israel
Advertiser News Services
In India and Israel, they cried with Americans for two of their own who died aboard Columbia.
Some in the Arab world, however, saw the tragedy as an instance of divine justice against the United States and Israel.
For Israelis, left scarred and sorrowful by 2 1/2 years of conflict with the Palestinians, the loss of national hero Ilan Ramon and a proud occasion's sudden veer from joy to catastrophe was a heavy blow.
"What a land of disaster we live in!" lamented 25-year-old Tel Aviv waiter Alon Ovadia. "It seems the little light we have here is turning to darkness."
"Let us pray together and support each other," Israeli leader Ariel Sharon told President Bush.
"The state of Israel and its citizens are as one at this difficult time," Sharon said in a statement.
"Because I was born in Israel, many people will see this as a dream that is come true," Ramon had said before his mission. "I'm kind of the proof for my parents and their generation that whatever we've been fighting for in the last century is becoming true."
In New Delhi, India, 300 children at the Tagore Bal Niketan school that Columbia crew member Kalpana Chawla attended had gathered for an evening of song and dance to celebrate the expected landing of Columbia, Principal Rajan Lamba said.
"A happy occasion turned into an atmosphere of disbelief, shock and condolence," Lamba said. Students said every year Chawla would invite two of them to the United States to spend time with her at NASA.
"It is because of her that we could get to see the United States and NASA," said one, Smidhi Arora. "In fact she told me, 'If India cannot provide the opportunities for your talent, come to me. I will help you pursue your dream.' "
During the mission, Indians would come out and wave as the shuttle passed hundreds of miles overhead.
"My worst fears were confirmed within minutes, and I stood still with a prayer on my lips for the only Indian-American astronaut," said T.P. Sreenivasan, a former Indian deputy ambassador to the United States who now is India's ambassador to Austria.
On the streets of Baghdad, where many are braced for U.S. military action, some said the loss of the shuttle and its crew was God's retribution.
"We are happy that it broke up," government employee Abdul Jabbar Quraishi said. "God wants to show that his might is greater than the Americans. They have encroached on our country. God is avenging us."
Noting that among the dead was Ilan Ramon, a fighter pilot who participated in a 1981 bombing attack that destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor, car mechanic Mohammed Jaber Tamini said: "Israel launched an aggression on us when it raided our nuclear reactor without any reason. Now time has come and God has retaliated to their aggression."
When news of the shuttle disaster aired on Jordanian television, one man pointed to the screen and asked if an Israeli was on board.
"God have mercy on them, but if there was an Israeli among them, it was God's response," said the man, Amjad Abu Nawas. "We don't want innocent people to die, but between us and the Jews, there is enmity."
In Kenya, people at Internet cafes and pubs said they were saddened by the news. But they wondered if the crash was a warning to President Bush.
"I think it's a reality check for America and shows that the country makes mistakes, too," said Tom Onyango, 40, a lawyer, who was going out to eat in Nairobi. "It's very sad that those people died, but the Americans have to slow down a bit. They are too eager about everything, and they aren't being careful enough."
