SADDAM'S PALESTINIAN CHEERLEADERS

Thursday March 27, 2003 16:56

by Avi H.

As allied forces march toward Baghdad (where you will find the busy commercial district Yasser Arafat Street), the Palestinian populace and leadership are engaging in frequent pro-Saddam frenzies

The Boston Globe ran this front-page headline (March 24): "Hussein
Support
Wide in West Bank" (http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/083/nation/Hussein_support_wide_in_West_Bank+.shtml). And
l'Agence
France-Presse (AFP) reports that last Friday alone, some 30,000
Palestinians took to the streets in the West Bank and Gaza to
demonstrate
support for Saddam. (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030321/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_palestinian_gaza_1)

Lest one think that this outpouring is only directed against America
(for
its support of Israel), Palestinians have likewise been targeting the
British. This week, Palestinians threw firebombs at a Ramallah branch
of
the British Middle East Bank. Palestinian sources reported that the
assailants apparently targeted the bank in protest against British
support
for the use of military force in Iraq. (Haaretz) LINK:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=274758&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

* * *

Here I present a sampling of recent pro-Saddam activity by
Palestinians:

(1) In the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, about 700 Palestinians,
most
of them schoolchildren, waved Iraqi flags and posters of Saddam and
burned
U.S. flags, shouting "Death to America, death to Bush!" and "We will
sacrifice our soul and our blood for Saddam!"

In Gaza City, a Palestinian Cabinet minister, Abdel Aziz Shaheen, told
a
crowd of about 1,500, "This is a war against all Arabs and Muslims."
(Associated Press) LINK: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030321/ap_on_re_mi_ea/war_israel_iraq_6

(2) The most popular name bestowed upon male Palestinian babies
recently
born in Nablus (the largest West Bank city) is "Saddam." An al-Kuds
Nablus
correspondent describes a state of euphoria in the town each time it
becomes known that a US helicopter has been downed or American soldiers
killed or captured by the Iraqis: "Drivers start honking their horns,
passersby start chanting and others fire shots into the air."
(Jerusalem
Post) LINK: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1048562545230

(3) Saddam's open financial support for Palestinian terror has not
ceased,
despite the war. Last week, $30,000 in checks from the Iraqi dictator
was
handed to families of Palestinian "martyrs" in a public Gazan forum,
under
a picture of a merry Saddam. (AFP) LINK:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030321/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_palestinian_gaza_1

(4) In Gaza, a crowd of 200 Palestinian journalists demonstrated in
support of Saddam. (I wonder how many of these journalists work for
AP,
Reuters, BBC...) LINK: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030326/ap_on_re_mi_ea/war_palestinian_protests_2

(5) Palestinians crammed Gaza shops this week to buy Iraqi flags,
glossy
pictures of Saddam Hussein, T-shirts, and American flags to set ablaze
at
a fervent demonstration against the war. (Associated Press) LINK:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030322/ap_on_re_mi_ea/war_palestinians_5

(6) A Gazan Hamas leader opined that Iraqis should follow the
Palestinian
model and launch "martyrdom operations, using explosive belts against
the
American and British soldiers." (The New York Times) LINK:
http://nytimes.com/2003/03/22/international/worldspecial/22HAMA.html

(7) [In Bethlehem], thousands of demonstrators marched in support of
Iraq,
burning U.S. flags and chanting, "Oh beloved Saddam, fire chemical
weapons
at Tel Aviv!" (AFP) LINK: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030321/wl_afp/iraq_war_mideast_demos_1

(8) Beyond these examples is a deeper, more formal connection:
"Electronic
Intifada" (http://electronicIntifada.net), the popular pro-Palestinian
website catering to English-speaking audiences, is also the publisher
of
the pro-Saddam "Electronic Iraq" (http://electroniciraq.net/news/).