For a second day in a row, thousands of Arabs demonstrated Saturday as they burned Israeli and American flags and expressed anger over the increasing Palestinian death toll in the daily clashes with Israel.
An estimated 5,000 people demonstrated in Amman, waved pictures of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and called on him to attack Israel, as he did with missiles during the 1991 Gulf War. In addition, they appealed to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
"Saddam, please strike Tel Aviv!" and "Bin Laden, you are dear to us, bomb Tel Aviv!" the protesters chanted before a squad of 200 police officers who kept them from the UN building in Amman's Shmeisani district, according to AP. The demonstrators chose that building to express their frustration at the international community's failure to end the Israeli-Palestinian fighting.
Meanwhile, in Cairo, some 4,000 Egyptian students chanted anti-Israeli slogans and burned Israeli and American flags too. They held special prayers for the Palestinians before they began demonstrating at Ain Shams University.
The demonstration came one day after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned in an interview with Israeli channel one television that Israeli military actions against the Palestinians were sowing hatred amongst Arabs.
"The time will come when 400 million people will hate you," he said. "And what will you do then?"
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of Hamas, called on the Cairo protesters, through mobile phone, to boycott American and Israeli products. Police officers did not allow the students to leave the campus and no clashes were reported.
At the Jordanian demonstration, the largest since the Palestinian Intifada began in September 2000, the crowd also called on their government to sever ties with Israel.
"No to a Zionist embassy on Jordanian soil," and "Get out of our land, you killers," the protesters' banners said.
The majority of the demonstrators belonged to professional and trade unions, political parties and human rights groups. There were no clashes with the police and the demonstrators dispersed peacefully after an hour. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
