A rchive Date
[ 10-01-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Palestine ]
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[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37359-2003Jan10.html
Hamas Group Urges Iraq to Allow Fighters
By Ibrahim Barzak
Associated Press Writer
Friday, January 10, 2003; 9:00 AM
JABALIYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip The Islamic militant Hamas group urged Iraq on Friday to open its doors to Muslim volunteer fighters and form squads of suicide bombers as the United States continues preparations for a possible war to topple Saddam Hussein.
Speaking to hundreds of supporters, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas leader, said Iraq should train and outfit cells of suicide attackers with "thousands of highly explosive belts" to fight American and British troops in Iraq.
The remarks were unusual for Hamas. Since it was formed at the start of the first Palestinian uprising in 1987, Hamas leaders have said the group's focus is its conflict with Israel and they have not sought involvement in other battles.
During more than two years of fighting that started in September 2000, as peace talks withered, Hamas has dispatched most of the 92 suicide bombers that have killed hundreds of Israelis.
"We urge the Iraqi leadership to open the door for Muslim volunteers who should perform their role in defense of Iraq because all Muslims were targeted by the USA," Rantisi said to the crowd of about 2,000 people.
The demonstrators shouted pro-Iraq slogans and set fire to American, British and Israeli flags.
"We call on the Arabs and Muslims to burn the land under the feet of the American invaders, especially our brothers in Saudi Arabia because this war is not against Iraq, it's against the Islamic nation," Rantisi said.
In the West Bank on Friday, Israeli soldiers demolished a home where a female suicide bomber had lived and shut down three military liaison offices, forcing out the Palestinian police officers and taking their weapons, Palestinian officials said.
In the Beit Wazzin village near Nablus, the military said, troops used explosives to demolish the one-story home of Darin Abu Aisheh, a female suicide bomber who blew herself up at an Israeli military checkpoint last February and wounded three policemen. Six of her relatives were left homeless.
Israel routinely demolishes the homes of suspected Palestinian militants and suicide bombers, believing that by punishing their relatives, other would-be attackers will be deterred. Palestinians say the demolitions violate international law and are a form of collective punishment.
On Feb. 27, 2002, Aisheh set off explosives inside a car, killing herself and wounding three policemen at a highway checkpoint. Aisheh was one of four woman suicide bombers.
In the West Bank towns of Tulkarem, Qalqilya and Nablus, Israel closed military liaison offices, one of the last remnants of a 1993 interim peace agreement that set up cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian security forces.
Soldiers forced out the police officers who were in the buildings and took their weapons, said the Palestinian governor of Tulkarem, Izzedine Sharif.
© 2003 The Associated Press
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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