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Saddam Chairs Meeting on Palestine Issue
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Sunday convened a meeting on the recent violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces in the Palestinian territories.
Izzat Ibrahim, vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, Iraq's top decision-making body, Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan and Foreign Minister Mohammad Said Al-Sahaf attended the meeting, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.
The meeting discussed the Palestine issue and the threats posed to Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian people by Israel, the INA said, without giving any detail.
Iraq in recent days has repeatedly condemned Israel for its "butchery" against the Palestinians, and has called for a Muslim holy war for the "liberation of Palestine" following the bloody clashes in the Palestinian territories and Israel.
At least four large-scale demonstrations have been held in Baghdad to protest against the "Israeli crimes" against the Palestinians.
The wave of clashes, the worst in four years, have left over 80 people, mostly Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, killed and more than 2,000 others injured.
The United States, a major ally of Israel, has kept a close eye on Iraq, which has been under a crippling U.N. sanctions since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
In a televised interview on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright warned Iraq not to threaten its neighbors or its own people.
Paul Mikolashek, commander of the Third U.S. Army and U.S. Armed Forces Central Command, stressed on September 20 that all necessary military precautions have been taken to foil any new Iraqi threat to the security of Kuwait and the region.
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