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Palestinians Injured in Anti-Israel Fighting in Iraq for Treatment
A number of Palestinians injured in their intifada (uprising) against Israeli occupation arrived in the Iraqi capital on Wednesday for treatment, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.
The wounded Palestinians were rushed to a special hospital, where they would receive around-the-clock medical services, Zuhair Said Abdussalam, senior undersecretary of Iraqi Health Ministry, was quoted as saying.
Abdul Karim Atiya, one of the injured Palestinians, expressed gratitude for the treatment and hailed the pro-Palestinian stand of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the INA said.
Iraq has shown vehement support for the Palestinian intifada and has repeatedly called for an Islamic Jihad (Holy War) to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation.
Saddam, fiercely opposing peace talks with Israel, has pledged 1 billion euros (some 930 million U.S. dollars) to support the Palestinians and has dispatched a number of shipments of relief aid to Jordan, where the aid was supposed to be transferred to Palestinian territories.
On February 17, Saddam announced the formation of the 21- division "Jerusalem Liberation Army" and vowed to fight along with the Palestinians against Israel.
Baghdad said that more than 6.5 million Iraqis had volunteered to join the Palestinians in their struggle against Israeli aggressions.
More than 500 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed and thousands of others injured since the violent clashes between the Palestinians and Israeli soldiers erupted last September, triggered by Israeli violation of an Islamic holy site in East Jerusalem.
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