Watching Iraq with great interest
How can it be that “Palestine and Iraq are one body”? Not just because of their common Arab identity, but because Hamas values the unity of the Islamic umma more than national distinctions, and wishes to restore the caliphate as the focal point of that unity. From the Jerusalem Post:
Hundreds of Palestinians marched in the streets of Ramallah on Wednesday to condemn the US and express their support for the resistance attacks against the coalition forces in Iraq.
The protesters carried placards denouncing American “massacres” against the Iraqi people and shouted slogans calling for retaliatory attacks against the US. They expressed their full support for the insurgents in Iraq who are waging a war of attrition against the US-led coalition forces, pointing out that the Iraqis and the Palestinians were fighting the same war against the powers of evil.
Representatives of various Palestinian factions — including Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad — participated in the anti-American demonstration.The demonstrators called on Arabs in neighboring countries to take to the streets to protest against the US and urge their governments to support the Iraqi resistance. They also shouted slogans condemning the Arab heads of state as traitors and collaborators with Israel and the US.
Similar demonstrations took place in Gaza.
Palestinian Authority officials did not comment on the events in Iraq in public to avoid voicing criticism of the US. A senior PA official in Ramallah said PA Chairman Yasser Arafat was following the developments in Iraq “with great interest.”
A senior Hamas official described the current violence in Iraq as “another chapter of repression against the Iraqi people and their resistance.”
The official added: “Palestine and Iraq are one body. We express our condemnation for the arbitrary killings that the Iraqi people are being subjected to at the hands of the occupation coalition forces led by the US.” Lauding the “brave” Iraqi resistance, the Hamas official called on all Arab and Muslim countries to interfere to stop the American military offensive against the insurgents and help the Iraqi people expel the occupiers.
The Islamic Jihad organization issued a statement in the Gaza Strip strongly condemning the “American massacres” against the Iraqi people and calling on the Iraqis to step up their attacks against the coalition forces.
“The massacres in Iraq expose the intentions of the US and prove that it did not come to bring democracy and freedom, but for hegemony, control, theft, and colonialism,” said the statement.
It welcomed the Iraqi “intifada” and called on the Arabs and Muslims to support the Iraqis and Palestinians “against American and Zionist terrorism in Iraq and Palestine.”