PALESTINIANS MOURN SADDAM

SADDAM HAS BEEN HANGED. NEVER HAS THE PHRASE, "HANGING'S TOO GOOD FOR HIM" BEEN MORE APT. MEANWHILE, THE PALESTINIANS ARE MOURNING THE PASSSING OF THIS ANIMAL.

Palestinians mourn for Saddam (JPost)
The execution of Saddam Hussein sent many Palestinians into deep mourning Saturday as they struggled to come to terms with the demise of perhaps their most steadfast ally.

Unlike much of the rest of the world, where Saddam was viewed as a brutal dictator who oppressed his people and started regional wars, in the West Bank and Gaza he was seen as a generous benefactor unafraid to fight for the Palestinian cause, even to the end... Saddam's final words were reportedly, "Palestine is Arab."

"We heard of his martyrdom, and I swear to God we were deeply shaken from within," said Khadejeh Ahmad from the Qadora refugee camp in the West Bank. "Nobody was as supportive or stood with the Palestinians as he did."

During the first Gulf War in 1991, the Palestinians cheered Saddam's missile attacks on Israel, chanting "Beloved Saddam, strike Tel Aviv," as the Scud missiles flew overhead.

He further endeared himself to the Palestinians during the recent uprising with Israel by giving US$25,000 to the family of each suicide bomber and US$10,000 for each Palestinian killed in fighting. The stipends amounted to an estimated US$35 million.

Saddam's support for the Palestinians, whose cause is deeply popular with Arabs throughout the Middle East, was at least partially aimed at gaining widespread support throughout the Arab world.

"Saddam was a person who had the ability to say, 'No' in the face of a great country," said Hosni al Ejel, 46, from the al Amari refugee camp near Ramallah.

"He wanted the Palestinian people to have a state and a government and to be united. But God supports us, and we pray to God to punish those who did this," said Ghanem Mezel, 72, from the town of Saeer in the southern West Bank.

Others were happy to hear Saddam's final words, knowing that his support for them remained unshakable until the end.

Palestinians in the West Bank town of Bethlehem opened a "house of condolences" where people can gather to mourn Saddam. The organizers hung Iraqi flags, pictures of Saddam and broadcast Iraqi revolutionary songs.

Mohammed Barghouti, the minister of labor in the Hamas-led Palestinian Cabinet, said that although his Islamic group was often at odds with the secular Saddam, his execution was wrong.

"The Palestinians had bonded with Iraqis in brotherhood," he said.


Palestinians pray inside a mosque in front of a mock coffin during a rally to protest former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s execution in the west Bank town of Jenin, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2006. Hundreds of Palestinians flocked to the streets of the West Bank on Sunday to mourn the death of Saddam Hussein, setting up condolence tents and bemoaning the fate of their steadfast ally. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)


A Palestinian vendor shows customers a photo of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in
the West Bank town of Ramallah, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2006. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)


A Palestinian man displays at his shop puppet dolls of late former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, U.S. President George W. Bush and Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden in the West Bank city of Ramallah December 31, 2006. REUTERS/Loay Abu Haykel