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Islamic Forum in Baghdad to Call for Liberation of Jerusalem
BAGHDAD, Aug 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - More than 350 people from across the globe will attend an Islamic conference in Baghdad next week to call for a holy struggle, or jihad, to liberate Jerusalem from Israeli occupation, organizers said Friday.
"More than 350 personalities from the United States and European, [and] Arab and African countries will take part in the conference, entitled 'Palestine and Iraq in the same trench facing up to U.S.-Zionist tyranny'," said Sheikh Abdul Razzaq al-Saadi, head of the group organizing the conference.
The Baghdad-based Popular Organization of the Islamic Conference is organizing the three-day meeting, due to open August 20th, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"Scholars will examine the suffering endured by the Palestinian people because of the Zionists, and call for jihad from Muslims to liberate Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque from the yoke of the Jews," Sheikh Abdul Razzak said, the Iraqi official news agency INA reported.
He added participants in the 10th such forum "will adopt [a] Fatwa [Islamic ruling] against certain Arab regimes that collaborate with the Americans and Zionists, notably Saudi Arabia and Kuwait."
Baghdad frequently criticizes Saudi Arabia and Kuwait for allowing U.S. and British planes to use bases on their territory to help impose no-fly zones put in place in the north and south of Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War.
However, Iraq said Thursday it was ready to renew diplomatic relations with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia if they blocked access for U.S. and British war planes to facilities that allow them to enforce no-fly zones over Iraqi territory, AFP reported.
"Iraq, in principle, wants to broaden relations with all Gulf countries, including Kuwait and Saudi Arabia," Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told the weekly al-Thawra newspaper.
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia "must stop these forces using their bases and give up welcoming and financing gangs of mercenaries looking to interfere in the internal affairs of Iraq," he said.
Earlier, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis took to the streets across the country Wednesday to demonstrate in support of the Palestinian uprising, Intifada, against Israel.
Among the demonstrators were senior members of the ruling Baath party, waving banners praising the "resistance of the Palestinian people" and condemning the "schemes of the Zionist occupiers".
Officials said there were 12 demonstrations in Baghdad and 18 more in other towns.
The protestors waved portraits of Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque, a focal point of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, AFP reported.
The demonstrations followed an appeal by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Tuesday for all Iraqis capable of walking to join small protests organized by the Baath party across Iraq to show solidarity with the Palestinians.
The Iraqi foreign minister said that the president's appeal was "witness to the honorable position of the Iraqi leadership and people towards the Palestinians."
"The Palestinians are at war not only to recover the rights that were taken away from them, but also to defend the dignity of the whole Arab world," Sabri said.
The minister urged Arabs to support Palestinians "by all means, political, economic and military, and to reject initiatives aimed at blocking their struggle and perpetuating the occupation."
"What happens in Palestine confirms the legitimacy of Iraq's position which says the only way of settling the Palestinian issue lies in the mobilization of all Arab capabilities to liberate Palestine from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river," he said.
Reacting to a call by U.S. President George W. Bush Tuesday for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to "clamp down" on bombers, Sabri accused Washington of being the "main partner of the Zionist entity in its attacks on the Arab nation and the Palestinian people."
Announcing the formation of a 42-division volunteer "Jerusalem Liberation Army." Saddam says Iraq has mobilized more than 6.5 million volunteers for "the liberation of Palestine" and wants the countries bordering Israel, including Jordan, to reopen their borders to anti-Israeli fighters.
Baghdad, under an 11-year-old international sanctions regime, has committed itself to giving the Palestinians one billion euros ($893 million) from oil revenues, which are controlled by the United Nations.
Baghdad, a fierce opponent of the Middle East peace process, already awards money to the families of those Palestinians killed by the Israeli occupation army in the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, which began in late September, AFP said.
On Tuesday, Saddam ordered the construction of a monument dedicated to Palestinian bombers and the "martyrs" of the Intifada against Israeli occupation.
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