Thousands of Palestinian refugees at the Yarmuk camp south of Damascus demonstrated Monday against the "carnage" perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinians and called on the Arab world to take action.
Burning Israeli and US flags, the demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and photographs of Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque, where clashes between the Israeli army and Palestinian demonstrators began Friday.
Protesters, who included representatives of 10 Damascus-based Palestinian groups, carried banners reading ""Palestine is Jerusalem; Jerusalem is Palestine," "Palestine is Arab" and "No Peace Without the Refugees' Return".
In a speech to the crowd, radical Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah Shalah called for Arabs and Muslims to take concrete positions in support of the Palestinians.
In a statement to AFP, Shalah warned of "attempts to put an end to the Intifada," the Palestinian uprising in the occupied territories.
"There is no option other than jihad (holy war) and resistance to win back all our rights and our land," he said, expressing disappointment at "the lack of Arab and Islamic support for the real war going on between the Palestinian people and the enemy."
"The Palestinian Authority cannot make any compromise on Jerusalem, which belongs to the Arabs and to Muslims," he said.
Meanwhile Syria's official press blasted Israel and alleged that Prime Minister Ehud Barak had given the go-ahead for right-wing opposition leader Ariel Sharon's visit Thursday to the al-Aqsa mosque, which set off the riots that have now killed more than 30 Palestinians.
"Sharon's visit was a planned act to sabotage the peace process at a time when decisions must be taken on a retreat from occupied Arab territories," said Al-Baath, the newspaper of Syria's ruling party.
Sharon's Likud party and Barak's Labor "are two sides of the same coin on regional issues: Sharon set the fire with his visit and Barak fanned the flames."
"This coordination seeks to move backwards, as the Israeli leaders believed that the peace process had progressed and they wanted to stop it by all means," Al-Baath said.
"Those who believe Israel wants peace are mistaken, as all these actions seek to gain time to trick the international community and find a good time to implement its judaicization plans, as the mosque compound crime clearly shows," it said.
For its part, the official newspaper Ath-Thawra condemned "the powerful international players, particularly the United States" for turning a blind eye to Israel's actions.
"Israel aggresses, occupies lands, kills and violates human rights and sacred places in the occupied territories amid the silence of the international community, whose reactions have mostly expressed concern and calls for both parties' restraint."
"These are unfair calls that encourage the aggressor to continue its policies," the newspaper said – DAMASCUS (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
