Palestinians Protest US - UK Airstrike
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:59 p.m. ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- About 1,000 Palestinians protested outside Gaza City on Sunday, denouncing the U.S. and British airstrike in Iraq and expressing support for Saddam Hussein.
The rally took place as Israelis and Palestinians exchanged fire in the southern Gaza Strip and a Palestinian wounded two days ago died in the hospital.
``Saddam, we wait for your rockets to hit Tel Aviv,'' the Gaza crowd shouted, as they fired automatic rifles in the air. Saddam is ``the leader who will liberate Palestine,'' one of the banners read.
Iraq has promised to retaliate for Friday's airstrikes, which the United States says were ordered to protect pilots patrolling Iraqi skies and that killed two people. Some Israelis fear the Jewish state might be targeted.
After meeting with security officials Sunday, Prime Minister Ehud Barak issued a statement saying that Israelis had ``no need to take any special steps'' but that the government ``continues to watch developments and is keeping closely in touch with the United States.''
Israel's Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh warned, however, that a renewed Western campaign against Iraq could radicalize the Palestinians and broaden the atmosphere of conflict in the Middle East.
``We can definitely see (Saddam) as a potential danger,'' Sneh told Israel Radio. ``His position in our conflict with the Palestinians is an extreme one and (he) could be influential in the short term.''
Saddam launched 39 Scud missiles at Israel during the 1991 Gulf War -- and won enthusiastic support from Palestinians.
Israeli security officials were not ruling out the possibility that Saddam might now attack Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians' five-month uprising, Israel's Channel 2 TV said. The violence has claimed 404 lives, most Palestinian.
Israeli analysts have also expressed concern that the combination of the Palestinian uprising and renewed tensions in the Persian Gulf could strengthen an emerging alliance between Iraq, Iran and Syria -- countries Sneh said were ``a triangle that is forming and has an interest in widening the conflict.''
Israeli experts believe Iraq has some Scuds left and could try to fit them with biological or chemical warheads.
Israeli and American air defense forces will begin a five-day exercise Monday in which Patriot missiles will be fired against a simulated Scud missile attack, an Israeli army spokesman said. The cruiser U.S.S. Porter, which carries advanced radar capable of detecting incoming missiles, will be off the Israeli coast and will also take part in the exercise.
The spokesman said the exercise was planned a year ago and is not related to the current tension with Iraq.
In Baghdad, the official news agency said Saddam ordered the formation of a volunteer force of about 300,000 men whose aim would be to free Jerusalem from Israeli control.
Iran, for its part, is prodding the Lebanese militia Hezbollah to provoke Israel into opening another front on its northern border, which has been mostly quiet since Israel's troop pullout from south Lebanon in May, Sneh said.
Israel's response was muted after a rocket attack by the militia killed an Israeli soldier on Saturday. On Monday, Hezbollah sent two giant balloons over the border attached with banners that read, ``Hezbollah will continue to attack Israel'' and ``Israel has no right to exist.''
Israel believes that Hezbollah -- operating with Syrian encouragement -- is increasingly involved in fomenting anti-Israel activity among the Palestinians.
Last week, Israeli helicopter gunships killed a Palestinian security agent in Gaza. Israel said the man was responsible for mortar attacks on a nearby Jewish settlements and had ties to Hezbollah.
Also Sunday, a 35-year-old Palestinian father of four died of wounds suffered two days before. Palestinian eyewitnesses said Ahmed Sarajala was caught in cross fire between Israeli soldiers and armed Palestinians.
In southern Gaza, 12 Palestinians were injured in exchanges of fire with Israeli troops, hospital officials said. The Israeli army spokesman said the Palestinians fired repeatedly at civilian vehicles leaving a Jewish settlement. Nobody was hurt.