September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack/Celebrations

The September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack occasioned spontaneous outbreaks of public celebration in a number of Arab Muslim communities. Press and television coverage of these celebrations were met with expressions of shock, then outrage in the U.S. and other western nations. Celebrations by some Palestinians were most prominent, possibly due to lack of the censorship common in other Arab lands. TV coverage showed gatherings of West Bank refugee Palestinians dancing and singing, groups of youths holding up newspapers with photos of the World Trade Center while women gave their distinctive trill and men handed out candy to the youngsters. Arabs in East Jerusalem[?], who hold Israeli citizenship, were also seen celebrating and distributing candy.

At the time there was an urban legend that the footage of some Palestinians celebrating the attack was faked, and it was actually footage from the invasion of Kuwait. This was false, as detailed on Snopes[?] twelve days later. [1] (http://www.snopes.com/rumors/cnn.htm)