Posted on 08/01/2006 1:54:36 PM PDT by APRPEH
Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of Ramallah on Tuesday, in one of the biggest shows of solidarity yet with Hizbullah. The rally was organized by Fatah and other factions.
During the rally, Fatah officials openly expressed their backing for Hizbullah and urged the Arab countries to join the battle against Israel. Hani al-Hassan, a top Fatah leader closely associated with Abbas, declared that his party had instructed all its armed men to be prepared to fight against Israel.
Calling on Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah to bomb Tel Aviv, many protesters also chanted slogans against US Secretary of State Condaleeza and the US. "O' Condaleeza, you are a condara [shoe]," shouted a group of Fatah activists. An elderly woman retorted: "Shame on you, Condaleeza, your parents were slaves for the whites!"
"The Palestinians hate her because of her arrogance and because of the policy she represents," said a veteran Palestinian newspaper editor. "Moreover, many Palestinians are angry with her because they think that all black people should be on their side."
Anti-American sentiments have been running high in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the beginning of the Israel-Hizbullah war three weeks ago. Aside from burning US flags and praising the insurgency in Iraq, demonstrators have also been directing much of their criticism toward Rice, who visited Israel and Ramallah recently in a bid to resolve the crisis in Lebanon.
Rice's visit to Ramallah, where she met with PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, was accompanied by calls for a general strike in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as articles and cartoons depicting her as a "black raven" and "child murderer."
Shortly before Rice's heavily-guarded motorcade entered Ramallah, hundreds of Palestinians marched in the center of the city, calling on Abbas to boycott her and strongly denouncing the US for its bias toward Israel.
PA policemen used force to disperse the protesters, some of whom carried placards featuring Rice as a raven preying on the corpse of children.
The PA media, which is controlled by Abbas's office, has been targeting Rice since the days of Yasser Arafat. The attacks intensified after the US decision to boycott Arafat in 2001 - a decision which Arafat and his top aides believed was taken at the behest of Rice.
In the past three weeks, the Arab media in general and the PA media in particular have resumed their scathing attacks on Rice - this time because of her call for establishing a new Middle East after the war in Lebanon is over.
Under the headline "Rice, go to Hell!" the Gaza-based Donia al-Watan online magazine ran an article by Mahmoud Abu Nur in which he said: "Mrs, Rice, go to Hell you and your smart bombs. Take your new Middle East back home and don't ever return here. The Arab people are wary of your malicious message."
This week a cartoon in the PA-funded Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda mocked Rice's hope for the birth of a new Middle East by drawing her pregnant with a monkey. The paper has also published pictures of demonstrators with posters of Rice drinking blood dripping from the dead babies and saying: "I need more blood."
One picture showed an American flag with the words in English and Arabic "Murderer Rice go to Hell!"
According to Palestinian Media Watch, the Palestinians "seem to have a special penchant for hating Rice. Some of the attacks have included expressions of racial hatred, as in an article this week referring to Rice as a "raven" and a previous article that referred to her as "the colored," "the dark skinned" and "the black lady."
During the rally, Fatah officials openly expressed their backing for Hizbullah and urged the Arab countries to join the battle against Israel. Hani al-Hassan, a top Fatah leader closely associated with Abbas, declared that his party had instructed all its armed men to be prepared to fight against Israel. This week a cartoon in the PA-funded Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda mocked Rice's hope for the birth of a new Middle East by drawing her pregnant with a monkey.
Fatah, as i recall is the party of the peace loving Abu Mazen.
Dear Mr. Toe-Head...
Dear God in Heaven, what a pathetic bunch of losers these people are!
Oh yeah, I forgot, they are all member of that "Religion Of Peace".
Never mind.
long time reporter for the post. he is their "arab" know it all guy. no problem with him. do a search.
The media usually calls it "the moderate Fatah Party".
Is it baboonery militant or baboonery triumphant? looks like both.
Hezbullah must be getting waxed, the Pali's have not called a winning horse in their entire history.
Does a bear...Is the Pope German...?
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