Iraq is mobilizing volunteers for "the jihad (holy war) in Palestine" and giving five million Euros (4.35 million dollars) towards the uprising against Israel, the official press proclaimed Monday.
The decisions were reached at a top-level meeting chaired by President Saddam Hussein "to support the valiant Intifada and the Palestinian mujahedeen to pursue their heroic fight on the road to liberating Palestine".
"Camps will be opened to complete the military training of volunteers for the jihad." The defense ministry would give priority to those who have already undergone army training.
Millions of Iraqis have been put through basic training in recent years in response to rallying cries against the United States and Britain, which bomb Iraq frequently as part of a containment policy following the 1991 Gulf War.
The five million Euros would go to families of those killed in the clashes and towards the uprising. Iraq would also send medical aid and doctors to the Palestinian territories and treat the wounded in Iraq.
Fighting between Palestinians and Israelis have left more than 90 people dead.
Iraq, which opposes the Middle East peace process, will consider the Palestinian dead -- the vast majority of the toll -- as "martyrs of the Mother of All Battles", the name Baghdad gives to the Gulf War – BAGHDAD (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
