- News>
- World
Iraq calls for jehad against Israel
Iraq called on Saturday for jehad, or holy war, against Israel and took a swipe at a Saudi peace offer by urging Arabs to oppose the normalization of ties with the Jewish state.
Iraq called on Saturday for jehad, or holy war, against Israel and took a swipe at a Saudi peace offer by urging Arabs to oppose the normalization of ties with the Jewish state.
"The Zionist enemy is stepping up his brutal attacks against Palestinians and becomes more arrogant whenever some Arab officials speak of negotiations ... which in itself is a sign of weakness," Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told the opening session of a conference of "Arab popular forces" in Baghdad.
Ramadan urged participants to "mobilize the masses ... for jihad to liberate Palestine and all the occupied Arab territories" and to "reject and resist all forms of links or normalisation with the Zionist enemy."
He was referring to a proposal by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz for Arab countries to normalise relations with Israel in exchange for its full withdrawal from Arab lands seized in the 1967 Middle East war.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein implicitly rejected the Saudi initiative, which Abdullah plans to present to a March 27-28 Arab summit in Beirut, during talks with Palestine Liberation Organization political chief Farouk Kaddoumi on Monday night.
Ramadan called on Arab countries to back the Palestinian intifada, which "has shaken Zionist leaders ... especially since Palestinian women joined martyrdom (suicide) operations in a bid to make up for the (weakness) of those chasing the mirage of negotiations."
The Iraqi official also urged conference participants, who include trade unionists, parliamentarians and political party representatives from the Arab world, to "strongly oppose any aggression and the threat of the use of force against Iraq or any other Arab country under whatever pretext."
The United States has dropped broad hints that it might take military action against Iraq and seek to overthrow the regime unless Baghdad readmits UN arms inspectors to check that it no longer has weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq has rallied to defend the Palestinian cause, announcing the mobilization of 6.5 million volunteers for the "liberation of Palestine."
Baghdad, which has been under a UN embargo since its 1990 invasion of neighboring Kuwait, has also pledged an assistance of one billion euros (around 900 million dollars) for the Palestinians.
Bureau Report
"The Zionist enemy is stepping up his brutal attacks against Palestinians and becomes more arrogant whenever some Arab officials speak of negotiations ... which in itself is a sign of weakness," Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told the opening session of a conference of "Arab popular forces" in Baghdad.
Ramadan urged participants to "mobilize the masses ... for jihad to liberate Palestine and all the occupied Arab territories" and to "reject and resist all forms of links or normalisation with the Zionist enemy."
He was referring to a proposal by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz for Arab countries to normalise relations with Israel in exchange for its full withdrawal from Arab lands seized in the 1967 Middle East war.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein implicitly rejected the Saudi initiative, which Abdullah plans to present to a March 27-28 Arab summit in Beirut, during talks with Palestine Liberation Organization political chief Farouk Kaddoumi on Monday night.
Ramadan called on Arab countries to back the Palestinian intifada, which "has shaken Zionist leaders ... especially since Palestinian women joined martyrdom (suicide) operations in a bid to make up for the (weakness) of those chasing the mirage of negotiations."
The Iraqi official also urged conference participants, who include trade unionists, parliamentarians and political party representatives from the Arab world, to "strongly oppose any aggression and the threat of the use of force against Iraq or any other Arab country under whatever pretext."
The United States has dropped broad hints that it might take military action against Iraq and seek to overthrow the regime unless Baghdad readmits UN arms inspectors to check that it no longer has weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq has rallied to defend the Palestinian cause, announcing the mobilization of 6.5 million volunteers for the "liberation of Palestine."
Baghdad, which has been under a UN embargo since its 1990 invasion of neighboring Kuwait, has also pledged an assistance of one billion euros (around 900 million dollars) for the Palestinians.
Bureau Report