The Palestinians have no need of peace initiatives, according to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, referring to recent Saudi proposals to try to break the cycle of Mideast violence.
"The Palestinian people does not need peace initiatives, and we are not interested by such projects," he told the official press in comments published Tuesday cited by AFP.
"Our prime initiative now is to support the Palestinian people in their fight and armed struggle," he said at a meeting with Palestine Liberation Organization political chief Farouk Kaddoumi on Monday night.
"Stopping the intifada is an act of heresy, and any attempt to stop it a crime and a plot hatched against the Palestinian people," he said.
"We hope to see the kings and presidents work to strengthen the Palestinians and to support justice," when they hold an upcoming summit in Beirut on March 27.
Saudi Arabia is due to outline in Lebanon its peace proposal offering full Arab ties to Israel if it returns all occupied land. Baghdad opposes peace with Israel.
Meanwhile, Al-Iraq newspaper called upon Arab leaders to take a united position against "American hegemony" and the escalation of violence in the Palestinian territories.
"Arab countries are called upon to adopt a prudent and wise position to restore prestige to the Arabs ... in the face of the US-Israeli escalation against our relatives in occupied territories," the official daily said.
In addition, it stressed "the need for Arab action to break the isolation of the Palestinian president Yasser Arafat," whom Israel has kept confined in Ramallah on the West Bank since early December. (Albawaba.com)
