Palestinians and Iraq

Palestinian Statements

"In a speech delivered at the Islamic Summit in Teheran, Arafat called for canceling the cruel UN sanctions against Iraq, as well as the sanctions against Libya and the Sudan."
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, December 10, 1997

"Yesterday in Hebron a large rally was held in support of the Iraqi people who faces American arrogance. Secretary General of the Palestinian Authority Presidency, Al-Tayyeb Abd Al-Rahim, represented President Arafat ... and delivered a speech on his behalf in which he said: 'By its support, the Palestinian people shows its gratitude to its brothers in Iraq. The words said by President Saddam Hussein to President Arafat still reverberate loudly in our ears: 'If you do not win this war, then we will not win, and if you do win [the significance of this will be] that we shall win.’ American aggression against Iraq is aggression against Arab national security and against Iraq’s sovereignty and that of the Arab people...’

Minister of Supply, Abu Ali Shaheen... expressed his willingness to fight as a soldier against anyone fighting Iraq."
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, December 1, 1997

"The Fatah movement called upon all the official and popular Arab forces to unite in order to face the challenge which confront the entire Arab nation and in order to end the suffering of the brother Iraqi people, who has never been stingy in sacrificing themselves for Palestine and in defending the Arab nation as a whole.

In a public statement published yesterday by the Fatah movement, it expressed its denunciation of the latest American escalation and called upon the UN to accept responsibility, put an end to this escalation, and find a peaceful solution to the fabricated crisis against Iraq... especially since Iraq has repeatedly said that it is committed to the decisions of the international legitimacy.

Despite Iraq’s acceptance of the UN’s [demand] to close the file on weapons of mass destruction and despite the fact that there were signs of an opportunity to end the suffering of the Iraqi people, sharp disagreements have suddenly broken out between the US and Iraq, caused by the American attempt to put additional sanctions [on Iraq]. The US started raising the tensions using the Americans on the international inspection teams in [acting under] Washington’s instructions..."
Al-Hayat AL-Jadida, November 12, 1997

"In a meeting of the Palestinian Legislative Council that took place yesterday... the Political Committee denounced the American threats against Iraq and demanded to resolve the current conflict peacefully... The Committee also demanded to immediately remove the siege of Iraq, Sudan, and Libya...

Council Member Abd Al-Fatah Hamail proposed to publish an announcement denouncing the American aggression against the Arab nation and the peoples of Iraq, Sudan, and Libya. [He] demanded that the Council would send letters of support to the Heads of Parliament in those states. Council Member, Nahedh Al-Rayyis supported this proposal...

Member of the PLO’s Executive Committee, Zakariya Al-Agha, said that the treatment of Iraq is very far from being just...
Al-Hayat AL-Jadida, November 11, 1997

PLO Factions in a communique:

"The purpose of the American provocations against the Iraqi government and its people is to humiliate the Arab Nation and harm Iraq. The US uses its influence in order to put pressure on the international [inspection] committee in a way that serves its purpose in continuing the siege on Iraq

The Arab nation, after having exposed the falsehood of the American promises of reaching a political settlement to the Israel-Arab conflict, based on international legitimacy and on the right of the Palestinian people for self-determination on its land and the establishment of its independent state - has encountered in the American policy nothing but additional bias in favor of Israel and a demand put to the Arabs to normalize economic relations, while Israel still occupies lands in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria’.

The PLO factions condemned the American policy that contains nothing but hatred of Iraq and Arab people. They demanded that the UN Security Council and the International Committee do follow the American pro-Israeli policy that ignores the tragedy of the Iraqi people.

The factions that released the communique were:

'Fatah’, 'The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’, 'The Palestinian Democratic Union’, 'The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine’, 'The Popular Struggle Front’, 'The Palestinian Liberation Front’, 'The Palestinian People’s Party’, and 'The Arab Liberation Front’.
Al-Quds, January 19, 1998

"The Political and National Guidance Directorate of the Jenin District demanded the Arab and Islamic states and the Palestinian public to stand by Iraq and its people against American aggression.

An announcement published by the Guidance Directorate... emphasized that the goal of the US cruel attack on Iraq is to subordinate the Iraqi people and leadership to American hegemony, and to seize its land, its oil and its natural resources.

The announcement also said that the defense and support of Iraq is in fact like protecting the land of Palestine and its people.

In the announcement the National Guidance Directorate called on the Arab and Islamic nations for a higher level of confrontation in order to liberate [themselves] from foreign rule... The purpose of the White House threats is to subjugate Iraq and to disarm it of its strength, in order to facilitate [American] domination of the area as a whole."
Al-Quds, November 17, 1997

"The [Palestinian] Association of Engineers—the Jerusalem branch published a public statement in which it described the American threats [to Iraq] as provocative to Arab and Islamic feelings as well as to the will of the International community. The announcement accused the Americans of using a double-standard in dealing with the region’s problems.
Al-Quds, November 19, 1997

"The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine sharply denounced the American attack and threats against Iraq... In another announcement, published by the Arab Liberation Front, the Front emphasized that it stands by the sister Iraq... The Front called to act in every way against the American danger, which threatens all Arab peoples..."
Al-Quds, November 9, 1997

"High ranking officials in 'The Arab Liberation Front’ and in the [Palestinian] Ba’ath Party said that the Palestinian fighters stand alongside the brother Iraqi people and the Iraqi leadership in the struggle against the American administration’s condescending policy against the Arab nation and especially against the Palestinian and Iraqi peoples... 'Awad Al-’Aruqi, leadership member of the 'Liberation Front’, announced the opening of a gate for volunteering against this policy..."
Al-Quds, November 12, 1997

"In Ramallah the 'Arab Palestinian Front’ called upon all Arabs to act with determination and jointly to remove the oppressive siege of their Iraqi brothers. A member of the politbureau and the Secretary of the 'Front,’ Omar Abu Leil, said that the denunciations and rallies are of little value while hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children die for lack of food and medications."

"The National and Islamic Forces in Gaza called for a removal of the exploitative siege from the sister Iraq and condemned the American policy in the area... They called for a revival of Arab and Muslim solidarity, which will assure Iraq’s return to the Arab home as an active force supporting the national Palestinian issue."
Al-Ayyam, November 7, 1997

"Sheik Nafez 'Azzam [leader of 'The Islamic Jihad’ in Gaza] called upon the Arab and Islamic nation to strongly oppose the American hegemony emphasizing that its goal was not only to hurt Iraq but to terrorize the whole world and cause everyone to submit to American and Israeli will..."
Al-Quds, November 10, 1997

The leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheik Abdallah Nimr Darwish:

"The American campaign against Iraq comes after signs of reconciliation and rapprochement between Iraq and many of the Arab states. The US fights against any step toward Arab rapprochement and against any spark of hope for cooperation between the Arab and Islamic states. The US is today the only policeman of the world... and this policeman strives to reorganize the world according to its faulty international order...

The fabricated American attack against Iraq wraps itself as usual in a cloak of the so-called 'international legitimacy’ in order to leave the Arab world in a whirlpool of inner conflicts and self-destruction... When the US wakes up from its power-craze and becomes a civilized state which examines [matters] according to the principles of justice and treats others with respect, we will be among the first to view it as a friend and even more than a friend; but the US is still hostile to our problems and lays obstacles in the way of our unity and our cooperation

We recognize our strength and our size and recognize also the strength and size of the US, but we are absolutely convinced that the strong does not [forever] remain strong and the weak does not [forever] remain weak. Only Allah is unchangeable."
Al-Quds, November 14, 1997

Op-Ed Articles in the Palestinian Press

An Al-Hayat Al-Jadida editorial entitled 'No... To The American Wolf’ reads:

"The time has come—not today, but years ago—that we activate our throats as Arabs and say: 'Enough, America; you are not a policeman on the vice squad; you are not the conductor of the symphony orchestra of the world; you are not an international investigative court, punisher and executor; it is inconceivable that your military strength endows you with the right to enslave nations poor in resources but with roots deeper than your fifty-state kindergarten Before the time passes, the Arab must act on both the popular and official levels and prove that they are not a herd of sheep for the American wolf"
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, February 4, 1998

Columnist Dr. Nasri Qumsiyya in an article entitled 'Who’s Encouraging the New American Aggression against Iraq?’:

"We state with resolve: the American President may commit fornication with Jewish Monica and others, bet he must not commit 'political fornication’ against either the Iraqi or the Palestinian people, or [against] the Arabs as a whole. Our Pristine Land—cradle of religion and civilization—vomits out every form of fornication, be it sexual or political. The Iraqi people will not [be turned into] scapegoat for our contemporary Don Joan’s adventures; it is a people of giants not of perverts"
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, February 2, 1998

Columnist Hassan Al-Batal, in an article entitled 'Saddam the First’:

"Saddam Hussein is ranked first among Arab leaders...according to a recent survey among students at Bir Zeit University Generally speaking, Palestinians believe Iraq, especially after it convinced them with 39 proofs [meaning the 39 SCUD missiles launched on Israel during the Gulf War]. Iraq talks and does."
Al-Ayyam, July 21, 1997

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The editor of Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Hafez Al-Barghuthi in an article entitled "Cowboy Mentality":

"...Iraq will not succeed in the conflict against the US... but the firm Iraqi stand against the dinosaur military apparatus which is based on the myth of the blood-spilling cowboy who chases Indians will remain an achievement...

The warning-signs will light for the American people only after the American Ambassador escapes defeated from the Embassy’s roof, and after 45,000 bodies of American soldiers will return to the US like airmail... This is the same mentality which caused the Marines to enter Beirut—and to run away from it, after one bold action was carried out by a Shahid [martyr] who suckled from his mother’s bosoms a pure Jihad tradition...

If most Americans support hurting Iraq it is because they think it will be a television war, without American bodies. But Arab reality will not remain frozen. It can change and can return gifts to the US via airmail. The Arab mothers will not be the only ones crying..."
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 23, 1997

The editor of Al-Hayat Al-Jadida Hafez Al-Barghuthi in an article entitled 'America’s Arrogance’:

"...History does not remember the United States, but it remembers Iraq, the cradle of civilization, and it [remembers] Palestine, the cradle of religions. History remembers every piece of Arab land, because it is the bosom of human civilization. On the other hand, the murders of humanity, the creators of the barbaric culture and the blood- suckers of nations, are doomed to death and destined to shrink to a microscopic size, like Micronesia."
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 15, 1997

The editor of Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Hafez Al Barghuthi, in an article entitled "War Merchants":

"The British Foreign Secretary blamed Russia of working to cancel the sanctions on Iraq... so that Iraq would repay its debts [to Russia], and forgot that his country and the US conducted a war... against Iraq for economic reasons...

They [the Americans and the British] are war merchants and oil and blood suckers who do not strive for peace and stability. This is the Colonialist mentality which still leads Britain and the US to a single [path]..."
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 24, 1997

The editor of Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Hafez Al-Barghuthi, in an article entitled 'Destruction’:

"While the Americans are investing efforts in forcing searches [for weapons of mass destruction] in the palaces of Iraq... one of the senior members of the supervisory team expressed his deep sorrow for the placement of a sign denouncing the US at Al-Habaniya airport.

For the Swedish member of the supervisory team this sign was more than he could bear; the sign denounced the American dinosaur, that eats children’s flesh and forces siege on a nation with roots, which dwarfs the phony cowboy culture of fast food and looting of nations...

This is the theory of western superiority over the entire Arab people, [the theory that] dreams of destroying the Arab race, since it opposes American evil which inherited the old and the new colonialism."
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 30, 1997

The editor of Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Hafez Al-Barghuthi, in an article entitled 'Let Us Revolt!’:

"Iraq has the right to expel the American spies in the UN Security Council’s Observer Mission who work to prolong the siege and to keep Iraq's land prey to the American and Turkish sharks...

The Arabs who are put under siege by the American Navy and by international decisions... have the right to revolt against the siege. The Sudan has the right to revolt, Libya has the right to revolt, and the Palestinian people has the right to rebel against the Israeli siege supported by the US, against the settlements supported by the US, against the oppression supported by the US and against the empty negotiations that the US nullified.

It is high time that this nation revolted against American tyranny. We are not their slaves and we should never become their slaves... We still have pride, courage, and a belief in Allah and in America’s heresy. "
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 31, 1997

In an article entitled 'Massacre of the Children’, The editor of Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Hafez Al-Barghouti responds to an article published by the New York Times, reporting that American customs caught a network smuggling milk for children from the US to Iraq:

" ...The Iraqi people is facing a power without conscience that thinks that mother’s milk is dangerous goods... The Americans are tightening the embargo on the milk, out of a fear that Iraqi children will drink milk and will not die.

Washington is waging a war of extermination against the Iraqi people under the guise of a war with its government. Never has it happened, not even in the barbaric history of oppressive and exploitative nations..., that children were targeted as an objective for death by starvation and disease, as is happening now in the American war against Iraqi children...

The sighs of the dying children will continue to echo in our ears... as curses [which will cause us] to spill [our anger] when the day comes—the day of paying back the debt for the act of barbarism coming from across the ocean."
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, December 2, 1997

The editor of Al-Hayat Al-Jadida of the paper, Hafez Al-Barghuthi:

"Immediately following the Gulf War James Baker spied on the Arab countries in order to bring the Arab capitals—which transformed into obedient females—under Israeli protection, after they had already been put under American protection during the Gulf War...

An American U-2 plane, which flies now in Iraqi skies, says to the Arab capitals "You Too," namely, "your turn will come," because no capital will be saved from American punishment...

The target of the abhorrent display which is conducted on Iraq’s body is not the Iraqi regime alone, rather the Iraqi people and its history as well; [and that] in order to terrorize the whole Arab world and cause it to throw up its Arabism, its religion and its history and remain at the periphery of the 21st Century, as the humiliated slave of bloodsuckers, those who steal the nation’s bread and plunder the lands.

Will these [Arab] regimes use the opportunity to say 'no,’ or will the Arab people under siege [be the ones] who will have to break the siege one way or the other? Allah willing [this will] occur shortly."
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 11, 1997

The editor of Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Hafez Al-Barghuthi in an article entitled 'Clinton Draws His Sword’:

"While the countdown for an impending attack on Iraq is underway, Clinton’s great ouster from the White House, lying on a bed rather than a stretcher is also impending

The question that begs itself is: what comes first, the blow to Iraq or the blow to the President [Clinton]? It is believed that the President will achieve a temporary lull which will enable him to draw his sword against at the Arabs, for killing Arabs is not deemed punishable according to the American Lexicon of Morals."
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, January 26, 1998

Columnist 'Izat Al-Ghazawi in an article entitled 'The USA and Satan’s Role’:

"The greatest US aspiration is to establish its role as the sole policeman of the world and dictate humiliating terms of submission to the Arab world, especially when the resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue is being discussed Iraq, without a doubt, does not want to engage in war with anyone and does not wish to develop weapons of mass destruction, yet it suffers siege and starvation. However, it is Iraq’s right to defend its trampled pride and it is our own right to doubt the US intentions’ [as the US] grants to whomever it favors and denies from whomever it wants.."
Al-Ayyam, November 2, 1997

Columnist Khalil Al-Sawahri writes:

"...No one knows where the present crisis between the mighty Empire of Evil and the Iraqi people who sinks under the burden of hunger, diseases and siege lead.

However, it is clear that the US and its tail, the British ally, will not let go of Iraq and that in their hatred of Iraq they want it to enter the 21st Century only after its goes back to the stone age. The hateful Western racism is trying to wipe Iraq off the face of the earth just like it erased the Arab rule in general and deprived it of the ability to exist independently of the American-Zionist hegemony."
Al-Ayyam, November 18, 1997

Columnist Rashid 'Ali Hijazi writes:

"...Iraq is our hope and the eastern gate of the homeland. Supporting it is a national [Palestinian] duty. Iraq’s honor and sovereignty are a part of the Arab nation’s honor and sovereignty.During the Gulf war it was proven that Iraq is the only one who can stand up to the challenge. Suffice it to say that the [Israeli] settlement [activity] did not cease for thirty years except during the Gulf war..."
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 18, 1997

Columnist Fuad Abu Hijla in an article entitled 'A Plot in the White House’:

"Neither Paula Jones, nor Jennifer Flowers, nor another million possible women encountered by the handsome American President could set him up without prior political decision taken by the Jewish clique, shaping American foreign policy in all respects

Nonetheless, Clinton won’t easily give in In this situation, there isn’t a better American way out than to attack Iraq under the pretext of 'doing away with a dictatorial regime’, a regime albeit having—by Oriental standards—a President more handsome than the blonde American one and one whose figurehead is not implicated in sex scandals"
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, January 27, 1998

Palestinian-Iraqi Relations

Minister of Public Works, ’Azzam Al-Ahmad: "Contacts between Arafat and Saddam Hussein have not ceased, not even for a moment... during the latest crisis in Iraq... Arafat transferred a letter to Saddam Hussein, emphasizing that the Palestinian people stand by their brothers, the Iraqi people, with regards to the threats against them."
Al-Ayyam, December 6, 1997

"A Palestinian high-ranking official has disclosed that President Arafat sent an envoy to Baghdad yesterday, carrying a message to Iraq’s president, Saddam Hussein. The envoy’s mission was in the framework of attempts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis, preempting conflagration. The official stopped short of divulging the content of the message. [He said] the envoy was the PLO’s ambassador to Iraq and minister of Public Works in the Palestinian Authority, 'Azzam Al-Ahmad. The official further disclosed that Arafat sent the envoy after talks he had conducted in the West Bank with the US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, in which the Iraqi issue was extensively discussed."
Al-Quds, February 2, 1998

"Minister of Public Works, 'Azzam Al-Ahmad, the coordinator of Palestinian- Iraqi relations, said in an interview with 'The Voice of Palestine" after a visit of several days to Iraq during which he transmitted a message from Arafat to brother Saddam Hussein:

"...Naturally during the visit we discussed the bilateral relations, which we are fervently keeping alive and developing without taking the present situation into consideration ...

Abu ’Ammar [Arafat] insisted that I go to Iraq at this time. I delivered Abu Ammar’s greetings to Saddam Hussein and even a letter which I transmitted through the Iraqi Foreign Minister."
The Voice of Palestine Radio, December 2, 1997

"Minister [of Public Works], 'Azzam Al-Ahmad, said that he communicated to the Iraqi leadership the Palestinian Authority’s and the Palestinian people’s position, which reject the attempts to hurt Iraq... Al-Ahmad added that he met on Sunday in Baghdad with the Iraqi Foreign Minister... And that they discussed the latest developments in Palestine and Iraq and the ways to tighten the bilateral relations in all areas."
Al-Quds, November 25, 1997

"The Palestinian National Authority is making concerted efforts in international circles to assure the delivery of $100m donated by Iraq to the Palestinian people and the United Nations Works and Relief Agency (UNRWA)... The donation was given two years ago But the funds were stopped from delivery by The UN Sanctions Committee

As’ad Abd Al-Rahman, who heads the [Palestinian Authority’s] Committee for Refugees said Thursday, Oct 16, that he had been holding talks with different organizations in the international community to ensure that the Iraqi contribution is delivered"
The Jerusalem Times, October 24, 1997

"Udai Saddam Hussein, chairman of the Iraqi Olympic Committee met on August 12 with a spokesman of the delegation from the 'Youth of Al-Ra’i Al-Salih [Sports] Club from the Jericho District which included As’ad Eid Mar’i, representative of the Palestinian Media Association for Sports and correspondent for the newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida."

"The meeting began with warm blessings from Udai Saddam Hussein, first-born son of the president of Iraq... who said that Palestine was and remains in the heart of the Iraqi President and that the liberation of Jerusalem is one of the subjects always before him as it is in the hearts of the Iraqi people. He added that Iraq is open to its Palestinian brothers [their] sports and other delegations and as evidence presented [the fact of] the Iraqi Army’s participation in all the battles and wars that took place in the defense of Palestine and for the just Palestinian cause. Iraq will continue to support the Palestinian cause until Palestine wins its liberty and independence and every handful of its land is liberated. He added that the cemeteries of Iraqi martyrs in Palestinian cities are proof of that."

"Afterwards, Auni Hatar, head of the Palestinian delegation, spoke about the cries of joy of Palestinian women and the happiness of all Palestinians during the Gulf War when they saw the Iraqi missiles filling Palestinian skies and hitting the enemy in his cities and places. Hatar passed on blessings from the Palestinian people for Udai’s recovery [from an assassination attempt] and expressed his happiness that Udai had begun walking again, as well as blessings from the delegation and the Palestinian people as a whole to the Iraqi leadership and above all to its leader Saddam Hussein, war hero of the second 'Al-Qadisiya’ battle [meaning the Gulf War]. Udai promised to pass on the message to the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein... Iraqi television broadcasted the meeting on the news which lasted 20 minutes..."

"Auni Hatar also gave an interview to Voice of Baghdad radio...The delegation visited the Palestinian embassy in Baghdad on Aug. 11 and met Najah Abd Al-Rahman the first secretary of the embassy."
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, August 23, 1997

Sentiments of the Palestinian Public

"Hundreds of children demonstrated yesterday in the village of Beit Furiq near Nablus in solidarity with the children of Iraq who suffer from lack of food and medicines due to the oppressive siege which was put on their country. The children carried banners condemning the American aggression against the Iraqi children, such as ' Palestine’s children stand by Iraqi children against American barbarism.’ The children, aged 4-7, marched through the village streets and burned Israeli and American flags. [The children carried Palestinian and Iraqi flags as well as pictures of Arafat and Saddam Hussein

Irham Jaber, a kindergarten teacher, said that it is important to nurture in the children awareness to the problems of their [Arab] nation and to deeply root the spirit of unity in their education. Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, December 23, 1997 ]"
Al-Ayyam, December 23, 1997

"In a meeting of the PLO factions, held in Tulkarm, [the factions] called upon the Arab peoples and states to stand by Iraq... They also called upon the Palestinian people to [undertake] public action that will stress the solidarity with Iraq... The factions called on the citizens to participate in the march of solidarity with Iraq which will take place in Ramallah tomorrow."
Al-Ayyam, November 9, 1997

"The paper printed an advertisement, signed by the PLO factions, calling on the public to participate in the rally in Ramallah 'denouncing the aggressive American policy against our people in Iraq... '

In an additional advertisement published by the National and Islamic Forces in the Gaza Strip the public was called to participate in a sit-down strike in order 'to express its anger at the American position against the Iraqi people who stands firm against the siege..."
Al-Quds, November 10, 1997

"Six Palestinian factions addressed yesterday a letter to the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, in which they emphasized that they denounce any American aggression against Iraq...

The letter was signed by 'Fatah’, 'The Popular Front’, 'The Democratic Front’, 'FIDA’, 'The Popular Struggle Front’ and 'The Arab Liberation Front’. The Palestinian factions praised the steadfastness of the leadership and people of Iraq who are facing the American attack, and demanded to act on all levels to remove the siege of Iraq."
Al-Ayyam, November 5, 1997

'The Palestinian Committee for Solidarity with the Iraqi People held a press conference at the Palestinian Journalists’ Union building in Gaza The Chairman of the committee, Abdallah Al-Horani, said that the Iraqi issue is very much alive in the heart of every Arab and every Palestinian and emphasized the solidarity with the Iraqi people. Al-Horani added that Dr. Haidar Abd Al-Shafi serves as the honorary chairman of the committee.

[In reply to an Al-Quds January 19, 1998 question whether the Palestinian Authority is involved in this campaign [of solidarity with Iraq], Al-Horani said: 'I believe that the [Palestinian] Authority is aware of the national and Pan-Arab sentiments We are in contact with the Palestinian Authority, two members of its Legislative Council sit by my side, which expresses popular and official unanimity’. The two Legislative Council members are Dr. Sa’di Al-Karnaz and Dr. Yussuf Abu Safieh]
Al-Quds, January 19, 1998

"An advertisement was published in the newspaper on behalf of 'The Hebron Social Club’ inviting the public to participate in a "mass rally of support for the Iraqi people, in which the following figures would participate: [Palestinian National Council member,] Hayder Abd Al-Shafi, [Palestinian Authority] Minister Abu 'Ali Shaheen, [former Mayor of Nablus,] Basam Al-Shak’a, [Israeli-Arabs’ Islamic leader,] Sheik Raed Salah and Member of the [Israeli] Knesset, 'Azmi Bshara"
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 29, 1997

"A recently established organization for supporting Iraq has launched a campaign for collecting signatures in support of the Iraqi people and the lifting of the seven year old siege. A member of the this new popular organization, former Mayor of Nablus, Bassam Al-Shak’a, said that this campaign was aimed at signing a memorandum that would be presented to the UN calling for ridding the international legitimacy of the hostile American paternalism and lifting the siege imposed on Iraq."
Al-Ayyam, January 21, 1998

"A large rally with many participants will take place today in Ramallah under the banner "Victory to Palestine and Iraq" in support of the Iraqi people’s struggle against the US"
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 10, 1997

"Hundreds of students from the schools of the Deheyshe refugee camp, near Bethlehem, demanded in a rally yesterday to remove the siege of Iraq. The slogan used in the rally was 'solidarity with the Iraqi people and their children.’"
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 6, 1997

"In a letter sent to the UN’s Secretary General, the "National and Islamic Forces" in Gaza denounced the aggressive American policy.

Hundreds of people participated in a sit-in strike, waving Iraqi flags, pictures of President Saddam Hussein and posters denouncing American policy... The rioters also burnt an American flag... Rallies of solidarity with Iraq in opposition to 'the American aggression’ took place in Gaza, Ramallah, and al-Birah."
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 11, 1997

"In Nablus, the United Left-Wing Movement of Al-Najah University, organized... a sit-in strike in solidarity with Iraq [and in protest] of the UN siege on it. Veiled participants came up to the stage and burnt Israeli and American flags while hundreds of students were clapping.

"The Palestinian Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party held a rally in Nablus under the banner 'The Struggle, The Steadfastness and The Challenge’ in support of Iraq in which representatives of the different political parties, nationalist and Islamic figures, and representatives of the National Authority and its security apparatuses participated."
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 19, 1997

"A rally organized by the Youth Movement at the University of Hebron marking the Palestinian declaration of independence turned into a show of affiliation with and support for Iraq... A number of participants drew slogans on the ground 'Down with America and Israel,’ and stepped on them...

The participants shouted slogans of support for Iraq such as 'With [our] soul and [our] blood we shall redeem you, oh Iraq,’ and burnt Israeli and American flags. About one hundred youths holding axes and knives, some of them wearing veils, participated in a military parade. Some of them demonstrated fighting skills... such as climbing down tall buildings with ropes."
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 23, 1997

"The [Arab] 'Village Sons’ movement inside the Green Line [Israel] organized a march with many participants in the village of Sakhnin [an Israeli-Arab town in the Galilee] as a show of support for the Palestinian and Iraqi people... A member of the central committee of the 'Village Sons’ movement, Wakim Wakim, warned of the dangers of the Israeli and American starvation policy against the Palestinian and Iraqi people..."
Al-Quds, November 23, 1997