Israel on high alert against Iraqi attack

Israel is staying on high alert against an Iraqi strike, despite a British reassurance that coalition forces have disabled Saddam Hussein’s ability to launch missiles from western Iraq.

Thousands of Palestinians held demonstrations in the West Bank yesterday, pleading with Saddam Hussein to strike Israel with missiles and chemical weapons. In the 1991 Gulf War, the Jewish state was hit with 39 conventional Scud missiles, which caused heavy damage and hundreds of injuries, but few deaths.

“We have disabled Iraq’s ability to launch external aggression from the west,” said Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair in a joint news conference with US president George Bush. The Scud missiles that hit Israel in 1991 came from western Iraq, the part of the country closest to Israel.

But an Israeli government official said Israel would stay on high alert until the “threat of missiles or other attacks was removed completely. “There’s still a possibility outside of western Iraq”.

Israelis have been told to keep gas masks with them, and to have sealed rooms prepared in case of a chemical or biological attack.

The US-led strike in Iraq, which began a week ago, has fuelled anger in the Gaza Strip and West Bank where Saddam has doled out €33m to Palestinian families who have had relatives killed during the uprising against Israel.

“Strike, strike Tel Aviv with chemicals!” more than 4,000 people chanted in the West Bank towns of Tulkarem and Tubas. “Bush, the little one, you are a coward. The land of Iraq is not for you.”

Holding posters of Saddam and waving Iraqi flags, Palestinians in the West Bank stomped over Israeli and US flags placed on the ground.

“All of us believe that this is a time that America should be defeated and only [Saddam] is capable of doing that,” said demonstrator Fatima Mukhtar, 55, who wore a headband with the Arabic inscription: “We Love Saddam.”

The show of support came as Bush and Blair stressed the importance of a “road map” to Palestinian statehood. Although there has been a steady show of support for Saddam in some West Bank and Gaza towns, the Palestinian Authority has been careful to distance itself from the Iraqi leader.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s support for Saddam in 1991 cost his people dearly. Gulf nations which had been threatened by Iraq halted funding to Palestinians and deported hundreds of Palestinian workers.