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Posted on 01/19/2003 11:47:57 AM PST by Nachum
Thousands of Palestinians waving pictures of Saddam Hussein marched in support of the Iraqi leader in Gaza City on Friday, as a Hamas leader warned that Muslims and Arabs will attack American targets everywhere if the United States goes to war against Iraq. p
About 3,500 Palestinians filled narrow streets in Gaza City with fluttering Iraqi flags and pictures of Saddam on the 12th anniversary of the Gulf War.
Some protesters fired shots in the air and others held portraits of Saddam, chanting together, "Our beloved Saddam, strike Tel Aviv," reviving an old Gulf War slogan.
Flanked by three guards toting submachine guns, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, told reporters that the march was evidence of strong Palestinian support for Iraq.
"The Palestinian people and Iraqi people are in the same trench of resistance against the aggression and against injustice," he said.
"If Iraq is attacked...all American targets will be open targets for every Muslim, Arab or Palestinian," another Hamas official, Mahmoud al-Zahar, told reporters. "Any attack against Iraq will be answered by resistance everywhere and American interests everywhere will be targeted."
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 also chanted slogans against US President George W. Bush, whose father was president during the 1991 war in which Iraqi troops were driven out of Kuwait.
"Bush Jr. is a coward. Iraq will not be humiliated," they chanted under Palestinian and Iraqi flags.
Palestinian police officers did not try to break up Friday's rally. Palestinians have regularly held rallies and marches in support of Saddam in recent weeks.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat was loud in his support of Saddam during the 1991 war but has been more cautious this time, calling for a peaceful resolution of the standoff with the United States which has called on Iraq to disarm.
Iraq has paid millions of dollars to reward the families of suicide bombers and terrorists who have had their homes demolished.
Zahar said Hamas was willing to suspend suicide attacks against civilians outside of the territories only if Israel stopped killing Palestinian civilians, pulled out of Palestinian cities and towns, lifted the blockades around them, and released Palestinian prisoners.
"But all Israeli military targets will remain open for our attacks everywhere, including inside Israel," he said. "We will continue to target settlers, armed Israelis and occupation forces." Zahar said his remarks reflected the official response Hamas officials in exile made to Egypt, which has called for a temporary cease-fire by Palestinian terrorists inside Israel.
Egypt has invited Palestinian factions to further talks in Cairo this week.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Gee that's something new.
Here's a happy thought from Middle East expert Daniel Pipes:
Islamists constitute a small but significant minority of Muslims, perhaps 10 to 15 per cent of the population. Many of them are peaceable in apearance, but they all must be considered potential killers.
How does 400,000 to 800,000 -- in our country -- potential killers sound?
Meet an Islamist -- peaceable in appearance, killer
America's Fifth Column ... watch Steve Emerson/PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
New Link: Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)
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