As it turns out, there really is linkage between what is going on in Iraq and the Intifada. Not the kind of linkage Yasir Arafat, Tony Blair and the European Union are suggesting – that the
necessary next step after “regime change” in Iraq is setting an arbitrary timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Rather, the dispatch of Palestinian suicide bombers by Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Fatah to Iraq to confront American and British troops, the widespread demonstrations across the West Bank and in Gaza, and leadership declarations of support for Saddam Hussein’s regime document what we have been saying for months: Muslim terrorists share, money, personnel,
intelligence and training facilities and are part of one interconnected enterprise.
Consider what that crowd is saying. Islamic Jihad’s “Jerusalem Brigade” the other day claimed responsibility for the recent suicide bombing in Netanya, calling it “a gift” to the Iraqi people.
Islamic Jihad also distributed leaflets which “congratulated the suicide pioneers who have arrived in Baghdad to fight in the ranks of Arab fighters and to perform their holy duty. We
emphasize the connection between the unity of goals for Palestine and Baghdad to stand up to the American-Zionist war meant to harm the entire Arab nation and Islam.”
Ramadan Shelah, secretary general of Islamic Jihad, said the Netanya attack, is the response to the call for performing holy duties. The jihad is a commandment and now a new gate of jihad has been opened for the entire Islamic nation and, within that framework, the resistance forces in Palestine will work. If the sons of Islamic Jihad and its supporters succeed, they
will reach the battlefield in Baghdad to participate in this war.
Plainly, the Palestinians claim the inalienable right to kill Israelis in order to destroy the Jewish state and end the “occupation.” They now also claim the same right in order to drive the infidel United States and England from Iraqi soil, regardless of the reason for their being there.
We hope that President Bush keeps this firmly in mind when he hears from some of his advisers and allies that this Palestinian mindset will miraculously change in the short term
simply because they have gone through the motions of appointing a prime minister.
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