Thousands protest against Israel and US

Thousands marched through Middle Eastern capitals today to protest an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, their calls often spilling into a broader outcry against America’s policy in the region and its backing of Israel.

In Jordan, some 1,000 demonstrators filed into the streets of Amman after Muslim noon prayers, chanting slogans in support of the Palestinians, but also against the sentencing of Saddam Hussein in neighbouring Iraq.

In Sudan, about 2,000 people gathered in front of the United Nations mission building and burnt American and Israeli flags.

“Down down USA, we won’t be governed by the CIA,” chanted the crowd, which was prevented by police from approaching the UN building.

Some 500 boy scouts from an organisation affiliated to Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group also gathered in front of a UN office in central Beirut, waving a banner in English that read: “West(ern) Democracy + Arab Silence = Massacre of Palestinian Children.”

Palestinians marching though the Yarmouk refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus challenged Arab governments for not doing enough, and praised terrorists who attack Israel.

“Arab leaders sitting on your chairs, a suicide bomber makes us proud,” some 700 protesters chanted.

In Cairo, 3,000 worshippers gathered at the call of the Muslim Brotherhood in Al-Azhar Mosque, the Sunni Muslim world’s most prestigious theological institute.

“One generation after another, we’ll keep on saying it: we don’t recognise Israel,” chanted the worshippers during their one-hour protest. Another Brotherhood demonstration in the northern port city of Alexandria drew some 2,000 people.

Separately, thousands of Islamist students have been protesting in Egyptian universities, condemning the Israeli attack in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun that killed 19 civilians on Wednesday.

More than 50 people have been killed in Gaza over the past days in the Israeli offensive, which aimed at preventing Palestinian militants from firing rockets at Israel.

The Brotherhood is technically illegal in Egypt, but the group has 88 lawmakers sitting in parliament as independents. Several could be seen leading the protests today.

The political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, held banners in the Amman protest calling for support to the “Lebanese and Syrian resistance to American threats.”

Jordanian organisers said authorities in this staunchly US-allied country had allowed them to protest on the Palestinian issue, but that they had felt compelled to broaden their calls.

“The protest did not change course, it reflected the anger of the Arabs against all those practices, whether against Saddam, Hamas or the Palestinian people,” said Wael al-Saqa, an Islamist activist and the head of the engineers association.

People waved photos of Saddam Hussein – sentenced to death earlier this week - and held flags in praise of the Palestinian Hamas militant group, Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerrilla and the hardline Syrian regime.

“Saddam the detainee, we are with you until your liberation,” shouted some protesters, waving flags of the pan-Arab Baath Socialist Party Saddam belongs to.

To many Palestinians, including Jordanians of Palestinian origins, Saddam is a hero who resisted American imperialism, and the only Arab leader who stood by them in times of crisis.

During the first Gulf War in 1991, Palestinians hailed Saddam for firing 39 Scud missiles at Israel. Saddam has also been reported to distribute money to families of Palestinian suicide bombers.

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon also held a rally supporting Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and other radical groups in Ein el-Hiweh, Lebanon’s largest camp on the outskirts of the southern port city of Sidon.