http://www.thewest.com.au/20020418/features/tw-features-home-sto50122.html

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Suicide bombers backed by Iraq

By Paul McGeough

IRAQI leader Saddam Hussein is paying $US25,000 to encourage Palestinian suicide bombers to volunteer for martyrdom.

In a provocative public ceremony yesterday in Tulkarm, 90km north of Jerusalem in the West Bank, the Arab Liberation Front opened Mr Saddam’s chequebook and paid $US500,000 ($942,000) to family representatives of 47 martyrs.

He has contributed more than $US10 million ($19 million) to grieving Palestinian families since the new intifada, or uprising, started in September 2000.

The ceremony proclaimed a new bonus of $US25,000 ($47,000), up from $US10,000 ($19,000), for the families of suicide-bombers. Those whose relatives had died in other clashes with the Israeli military were given $US10,000 each.

Previously, officials from the ALF, a small Palestine Liberation Organisation faction closely aligned with Mr Saddam’s Baath Party, delivered the cheques to the homes of such martyr families.

A senior ALF official, Maa’moon Tayeh, said the extra $US15,000 was to encourage more Palestinians to volunteer as suicide bombers to help “confirm the legitimacy of our national questions”.

“Saddam Hussein considers Palestine to be a governate of Iraq and he thinks the same of the Palestinian martyrs as he does of Iraqi martyrs – they all are martyrs for the whole Arab nation,” he said.

Hassan Khraisheh, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, praised Iraq as the only Arab nation which officially donated to the Palestinian cause. “The Saudis used to give $US4000 ($7500) to the martyrs, but now it depends on public donations,” Khraisheh said.

“Saddam Hussein’s $US25,000 is a message to those who might offer themselves as martyrs that their families will be supported – they have wives and children and some of them are very poor.”

The timing of the ceremony is a clear signal that Mr Saddam is stoking the Middle East conflict, and it could make it more difficult for PLO leader Yasser Arafat to manage his strained relationship with Washington.

Because the Palestinians and the Israelis have been unable to agree to a ceasefire in US-brokered talks which began in Jerusalem two weeks ago, Mr Arafat may be denied an opportunity to put the Palestinian case direct to US Vice-President Dick Cheney.

The Israelis have yet to decide whether they will lift his effective house arrest to allow him to travel to Beirut for tomorrow’s summit of Arab leaders to discuss a Saudi Arabian plan to end the crisis.

Now, the US and Israel will have the opportunity to accuse Mr Arafat of being in the embrace of two of President George Bush’s three “axis of evil” countries – Iraq and Iran. The New York Times reported on Saturday the suspicions of US and Israeli intelligence agencies that Mr Arafat had developed an alliance with Iran to import weapons worth millions of dollars to be used by Palestinian fighters.

Mr Arafat has denied knowledge of a recent shipment of Iranian arms seized by the Israelis on its way to the Palestinians. But he may be hard-pressed to deny knowledge of a ceremony on his territory, during which supporters of Mr Saddam handed out money and encouraged others to become suicide bombers with the blessing of the Iraqi leader.

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Saddam’s payback

THE grieving mothers seemed comforted when the man from the Arab Liberation Front told them: “Don’t think that the martyrs are dead – they are alive and in the heavens and they are close to God.”

Noura Ayesh Al Jalab, 47, was crying for the loss of her nine-year-old son, Mohammed. “He was armed with only an ice-cream and he was trying to say “hello”to the Israeli soldiers when they shot him,” she said.

“I’m not sad that he’s martyred, but I’m sad and angered by the behaviour of the Israeli soldier who killed my son.”

April 18, 2002