Although the Palestinian Authority is formally neutral on the current Iraqi crisis, Mr Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah faction of the PLO yesterday organised two stormy West Bank demonstrations supporting Mr Saddam Hussein, writes David Horovitz, in Jerusalem.
Hundreds of Palestinians marched in the towns of Ramallah and Jenin, set aflame American and Israeli flags, waved Iraqi flags, chanted of their readiness to lay down their lives for the Iraqi leader, and urged him to use chemical weapons to "hit, hit Tel Aviv". On Saturday, about 1,000 Palestinians had marched through Bethlehem, brandishing portraits only of the "Arab national hero" Mr Saddam Hussein, in a demonstration held without Mr Arafat's tacit support.
At yesterday's protests, in contrast, Palestinians carried pictures of Mr Saddam and Mr Arafat. "With you, together, to Jerusalem" read the inscription under one joint portrait of the two leaders.
During the Gulf conflict in 1991, Mr Arafat, still in exile in Tunis, sided openly with Mr Saddam against the US-Arab coalition - a decision which led to the expulsion of tens of thousands of Palestinian workers from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, and to the cessation of crucial funding for the PLO from the Saudis and others. When Mr Saddam fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel, some Palestinians in Gaza danced on their rooftops in delight.
Seven years on, Mr Arafat is wary of making the same mistake, and of defying the United States, guarantor of the failing peace accords with Israel. The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, is said to have explicitly warned Mr Arafat at their last meeting against open expressions of support for Mr Saddam by Palestinian officials or in Palestinian Authority backed demonstrations.
Mr Arafat is acutely sensitive to the tremendous frustration among Palestinians at what they see as the US "double standard". As the Palestine Authority Cabinet Secretary, Mr Ahmed Abdel Rahman, observed bitterly last weekend, "Our rights are being violated. The resolutions that affect us are not implemented. But when we are dealing with certain American interests, missiles and planes start to fly."
Some Palestinian commentators, moreover, are hoping that a Russian or European-mediated diplomatic resolution to the crisis might break what they regard as the damaging US stranglehold on Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. Reuters adds: One of Israel's most revered and mystical rabbis put a curse on all Iraqis yesterday, condemning them to "fear and death".
Rabbi Yitzhak Kadourie, whose age is estimated at 104, muttered the curse at the end of a visit to an institution for handicapped children, witnesses said.