Posted on 01/17/2003 6:58:43 PM PST by demlosers
Muslims and Arabs will attack American targets everywhere if the United States goes to war against Iraq, a senior member of the militant Islamic movement Hamas said in Gaza on Friday.
He made the new threat during a march by 3,000 Palestinians through the winding streets of Gaza City on the 12th anniversary of the 1991 Gulf War. Some protesters fired shots shot in the air and others held portraits of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
"If Iraq is attacked... all American targets will be open targets for every Muslim, Arab or Palestinian," Mahmoud al-Zahar, told reporters.
"Any attack against Iraq will be answered by resistance everywhere and American interests everywhere will be targeted. We say that all American targets will be open targets to every Muslim, Arab, or Palestinian," he said.
Islamic groups and secular factions at the march issued their own statement which condemned Arab states who were "silent against the assaults on Iraq and Palestine."
Protesters chanted slogans against U.S. President George W. Bush, whose father was president during the 1991 war in which Iraqi troops were driven out of Kuwait.
"Bush junior is a coward. Iraq will not be humiliated," they chanted under Palestinian and Iraqi flags.
The crowd had gathered at Gaza's Palestine square, after the weekly Moslem Friday prayers held in several mosques in the city. It headed for the yard of the unknown soldier in Remal neighborhood, before arrived at the building of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
The demonstrators chanted slogans denouncing U.S. warnings to hit Iraq, shouting "George Bush listen to us, Iraq will never surrender."
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the Islamic militant Hamas movement, as well as leaders of other political factions, led the demonstration.
Palestinians have regularly held rallies and marches in support of Saddam in recent weeks.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat supported Saddam during the 1991 war but has been more cautious this time, calling for a peaceful resolution of its standoff with the United States which has called on Iraq to disarm.
Iraq has paid millions of dollars to families of Palestinians killed during the uprising, including those of suicide bombers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.