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Massive
Anti-Israeli Demos In The Arab Capitals
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| Egyptian
women shout anti-Israeli slogans during a demo inside al-Azhar
mosque in Cairo. |
CAIRO,
March 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Demonstrations
against the Israeli aggressions in the Palestinian territories broke
out through the Arab capitals Friday, urging Arab states and world
powers to act promptly to protect an armless people under
occupation.
In
Egypt, more than 3,000 worshippers demonstrated Friday in central
Cairo's Al-Azhar mosque against Israel and its occupation of the
West Bank town of Ramallah, calling for the expulsion of the Israeli
ambassador, police sources said.
Around
3,000 men and 400 women gathered in the mosque's interior after
Friday prayers and shouted slogans before peacefully dispersing, the
source said.
"Down
with Israel," "Expel the Israeli ambassador," and
"Jihad (holy war), Jihad, open the door to Jihad,"
demonstrators shouted, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Anti-riot
troops deployed around Al-Azhar, as well as many other mosques in
the capital, to prevent demonstrators spilling out into the street,
the source said.
Egyptian
Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher earlier called the Israeli attempt to
isolate Arafat "an aggression and a stupid act."
In
Jordan, meanwhile, several hundred people demonstrated inside two
Palestinian refugee camps in the Jordanian capital Friday against
Israel's latest aggression.
Protesters
took to the streets of the Wihdat and Baqaa camps after Friday
prayers chanting anti-Israeli slogans, but were prevented by police
from leaving the compounds, witnesses said.
Anti-riot
police fired tear-gas grenades at protesters in Wihdat who pelted
them with stones as they chanted calls for the jihad (holy war)
against Israel.
The
protesters, who also voiced support for the embattled Arafat, then
dispersed peacefully, reported AFP.
In
Amman, worshippers at several mosques chanted Islamic slogans but
did not march in the streets, where demonstrations are strictly
banned by the authorities.
Police
also confiscated the films of some press photographers near the
Israeli embassy in the residential Rabiyah neighborhood, where
dozens of armored vehicles and anti-riot police deployed from early
morning.
And
in Gaza City, hundreds of Palestinians, ready to sacrifice their
lives to liberate their land, demonstrated Friday in support of
Arafat, whose West Bank headquarters were under heavy attack from
Israeli occupation forces.
The
demonstrators, mostly from the Palestinian resistance group Hamas,
chanted, "We'll die as martyrs," and "Death is close,
Sharon," a threat to the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon,
whose tanks were pounding Arafat's base in Ramallah.
Hamas
spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was at the demonstration,
reported AFP.
Israeli
tanks and troops backed by helicopters reoccupied Ramallah Friday
and battered their way into the compound of Arafat, but held off
from entering his offices.
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