Half million Iraqis said to volunteer to fight with Palestinians

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) -- More than half a million Iraqis have volunteered to fight with the Palestinians against Israeli troops, the state INA news agency reported on Thursday.

INA quoted Baath Party official Adnan Dawood Salman as saying, "514,658 men and women in Baghdad and the provinces have volunteered to liberate al-Quds (Jerusalem) from the Zionists."

INA published lists of the Iraqi provinces and the number of volunteers from each. The list included all the provinces except Duhouk, Suleimaniya and Arbeil in the north. Northern Iraq slipped from Baghdad's rule at the end of the 1991 Gulf War when Western powers set up a safe haven for the Kurds.

Iraq's most influential newspaper had said on Tuesday that President Saddam Hussein's eldest son Uday had become the first Iraqi to volunteer to defend the Palestinians against Israeli troops.

The newspaper Babel, owned by Uday, published 75 names including Uday's, saying they had "volunteered to fight to defend dear Palestine."

Tens of thousands of Iraqi demonstrators have hit the streets in protest against the killing of at least 97 people -- mostly Palestinians -- during two weeks of Israeli-Palestinian clashes.

On Thursday, Israeli forces attacked Palestinian targets following the killing of two Israeli soldiers by a Palestinian mob.

Iraq has always taken a hard line towards Israel. It fired Scud missiles at the Jewish state during the 1991 Gulf War. It also opposes peace agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinians and those signed with other neighboring countries.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

See related sites about Middle East

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.