The Palestinians have every right to resort to suicide bombing in the battle against Israeli occupation, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said in remarks published Tuesday.
"All means are legitimate for a people whose land is occupied and who are attacked," Saddam Hussein said, quoted by the ruling Baath party daily Ath-Thawra.
"It's their right under the United Nations Charter."
Saddam added, "May God bless our (Palestinian) martyrs and first of all those who carried out martyr suicide operations, as they are called.
"The Palestinians do not kill themselves out of despair, but they turn themselves into bombs because they have no bombs or weapons with which to return the fire," of the Israeli army.
"If they had planes, artillery, tanks and missiles, they would never have felt the need to turn themselves into human bombs," the Iraqi leader explained.
The United States "accepts" the death of Iraqis due to the UN embargo imposed on Baghdad for invading Kuwait in 1990 and the death of Palestinians "killed by Zionists", Saddam pointed out.
However, Washington considers it "illegitimate when a woman suicide bomber blows herself up to defend her honor and the honor of the Arabs," the president said.
Furthermore, he voiced hope that the Palestinians and Arab countries "do not give in ... to blackmail, whatever the pressure," applied notably by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, to quell the fighting. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
