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Source: THE TIMES 08/07/2002 P15 Iraq supports Palestinians and keeps American attack at bay. Abed al-Najjar looks surprisingly upbeat for someone who was shot three times, has lost the use of his left hand, carries a nasty gash in his right thigh and still has an Israeli bullet in his back. "It could have been worse," said the 21-year-old man from Gaza, who was propped up on his bed and glued to the television, with only a portrait of President Saddam Hussein on the wall to keep him company in his private room. "I am lucky to be alive and lucky to be in Baghdad." Although Iraq has made much of the impact of United Nations sanctions on its medical services and its economy, Baghdad is probably the most generous supporter of the Palestinian cause, lavishing hundreds of millions of pounds of its overstretched resources to help Palestinians in their conflict with Israel. During a visit to the Saddam Medical Centre, the city's best hospital, the latest group of hundreds of Palestinian wounded were enjoying specialist medical care unimaginable on the West Bank or in Gaza and certainly beyond the reach of most ordinary Iraqis. "President Saddam himself ordered that we give the Palestinians the best care we can," Abdel Aziz Abdel Hamid, the hospital's director, said. "It is our way of helping them in their struggle." But the Iraqi support goes far beyond medical care. Iraq has offered to pay all families of the 1,500 "martyred" Palestinians, from suicide bombers to innocent victims of the violence, a cash sum of up to �16,500 and also pledged the same amount to Palestinian refugees in Jenin whose homes were destroyed in the recent Israeli incursion. In protest at the operation, the Iraqi leader also suspended oil sales for one month and called for other Arab states to follow suit. None did, but the Iraqi boycott cost the country's economy about �1 billion in lost revenues. Diplomats in Baghdad insist that the policy helps Iraq in its decade-long struggle with the United States. "Saddam knows that as long as the conflict continues unresolved, the Americans will find it very difficult to take action against Iraq," a diplomat in Baghdad said. "Washington has been told by all the Arab states that it must first restore calm to the Middle East before it tries to topple the Iraqi regime. The Iraqis have an interest in seeing the struggle continue." Iraqi and Palestinian officials denied this cynical interpretation, insisting that the tough line from Baghdad is motivated purely by its longstanding opposition to Israel and its support for the creation of a Palestinian state. Naji al-Sabri, the Foreign Minister, accused Israel of trying to deprive the Palestinians of statehood and said that Iraq would support the Palestinian intifada as long as necessary. Naja Abdel Rahman, the Palestinian envoy to Baghdad, was more direct. He likened Saddam to Saladin, the Iraqi-born commander who defeated the Crusaders in the 12th century and restored Palestine to Muslim rule. "We hope he will do the same for us now," he said. --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
