Arafat Saddened By Saddam’s Capture

Hamas Vows That US Will "Pay a Very High Price"

International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, December 15, 2003

Palestinians reacted with "gloom and disbelief" on Sunday to the news of Saddam Hussein’s capture by American forces in Iraq, having lost one of their principle icons in the struggle against Israel and the US.

As Arabic cable networks broadcast the television images of the former dictator’s humiliating end in a foxhole near his hometown of Tikrit, many Palestinians expressed deep disappointment that the man who symbolized such potent defiance against their enemies, could surrender without resistance -- unwilling even to fire the pistol attached to his belt.

For years his most ardent supporters in the Middle East, many Palestinians viewed the former Iraqi ruler as a hero for his stand against Israel and for his generous financial aid to the families of suicide bombers and others who died during the three years of armed intifada.

Saddam’s direct sponsorship of Palestinian terrorism since 2000 alone is believed to have totaled some $35 million, while the PLO reportedly received some $50 million in compensation for their support for the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Earlier this year thousands marched in support of the threatened Iraqi leader ahead of the US-led invasion in March. "O beloved Saddam, bomb Tel Aviv," they chanted, calling on him to repeat the Scud missile attacks launched on Israel during the 1991 Gulf War.

Although the Palestinian Authority declined to give a formal comment on the capture, PA Chairman Yasser Arafat was reportedly "saddened" by the news, according to one senior official in Ramallah.

"President Arafat was sad to see an Arab leader in an humiliating position," he told The Jerusalem Post.

Careful not to say to much on the subject in public, senior PA officials admit in private that they supported Saddam in the face of the American "aggression," and were hoping that a prolonged terrorist "resistance" campaign might dislodge the US military presence in the region. According to The Post, many Palestinians also view the fall of Baghdad on April 9 as a new "nakba" (catastrophe) like the one that befell them with the creation of Israel in 1948.

Unconcerned to maintain the PA’s diplomatic silence, Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi told reporters in Gaza that the United States would "pay a very high price for the mistake" of capturing Saddam.

"What the United States did is ugly and despicable. It is an insult to all Arabs and an insult to Muslims," he told Reuters.

Hamas along with other Islamic factions sworn to Israel's destruction have taken strength from the effectiveness of the al-Qaeda backed terror campaign in Iraq and cautioned that Saddam's capture would not end the attacks, according to Ha’aretz.

Nevertheless, reformist legislators in the PA noted that the fate of Saddam could serve as a lesson for the rest of the dictators in the Arab world.

"I think the Iraqis can finally celebrate their birthday," Hatem Abdel Kader told The Post. "This is the fate of all tyrants. This is a humiliating end for a dictator, but we wish he had been caught by the Iraqis and not the Americans."