I’ll chalk this one up to ignorance of the Palestinian people for not realizing what the Butcher of Baghdad is all about as well as blind hate for the Israelis.
Pro-Saddam rally held in Strip
Setting fire to U.S. and Israeli flags, and chanting “Dear Saddam, bomb Tel Aviv,” several hundred Palestinians demonstrated Thursday in support of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and against U.S. policies.
The demonstrators waved Palestinian flags as well as posters of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and Saddam, who fired dozens of Scud missiles into Israel during the 1991 Gulf War.
They were marching through Rafah refugee camp, a flashpoint of violence in the south of the Gaza Strip since the Palestinian uprising which began nearly two years ago.
“We are marching to Iraq, giving millions of martyrs on the way,” they chanted.
Many of the marchers were youths and some were children. Some marched with bare chests, clutched automatic machineguns and had black paint smeared on their faces like combat soldiers.
Raouf Barbakh, a member of Arafat’s Fatah movement and an organizer of the rally, said Palestinians and Iraqis shared “the same present and the same future.”
“America supports Israel with weapons to kill Palestinians and at the same time the United States bombs Iraqis,” he said.
“As Palestinians we reject America’s plans to oust Saddam, the same as we reject its demands to oust Arafat,” he added.
Saddam’s popularity rose among Palestinians during the 1991 Gulf War and some Palestinians cheered as Iraqi missiles struck Israeli cities at that time.
A Palestinian group that handles the distribution of money to bereaved families says Saddam has sent at least $30 million in cash to support the families of Palestinian men killed since the uprising began in September 2000.
The money has been distributed at ceremonies in Gaza and the West Bank. The families of sons who carried out suicide attacks against Israeli targets receive about $25,000, while families of victims are given about $10,000.