GAZA/WEST BANK: PALESTINIANS THROUGHOUT THE GAZA STRIP RALLY IN SUPPORT OF IRAQI PEOPLE/ PALESTINIAN CABINET MINISTERS MEET IN RAMALLAH

Record ID: 215449

  • Title: GAZA/WEST BANK: PALESTINIANS THROUGHOUT THE GAZA STRIP RALLY IN SUPPORT OF IRAQI PEOPLE/ PALESTINIAN CABINET MINISTERS MEET IN RAMALLAH
  • Date: 12th April 2004
  • Summary: (W5) RAFAH REFUGEE CAMP, GAZA STRIP (APRIL 12, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN YOUTHS AND CHILDREN RUNNING AND CHANTING PRO-IRAQI SLOGANS (2 SHOTS) 0.16 2. YOUTHS AND MASKED MILITANTS CHANTING SLOGANS 0.24 3. VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS BURNING U.K. AND ISRAELI FLAGS (2 SHOTS) 1.04 4. SCU: MASKED MILITANT CHANTING SLOGANS
  • Embargoed: 27th April 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GAZA CITY & RAFAH, GAZA STRIP AND RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVACK9CDRJNDGKK0ULUR3Q39APY9
  • Story Text: Palestinians rally in support of Iraqi people
    throughout Gaza strip. Palestinian cabinet members meet
    while Arafat meets with American religious delegation.


    Thousands of Palestinians rallied on Monday (April 12) in Gaza strip,
    in support of Iraqis following ongoing violence and fighting
    in Iraq that has left hundreds of people dead.

    In Rafah refugee camp around thousand of youths and children ran in
    the streets and chanted slogans. The crowd burnt American, British
    and Israeli flags. In Gaza several hundred of Palestinians waved
    Palestinians flags and chanted pro-Iraqi slogans.

    Palestinians have regularly held rallies and marches in support of
    Iraqis since Saddam Hussein's fall nearly a year ago.

    Saddam Hussein has paid millions of dollars to families of Palestinians,
    including those of suicide bombers, since the start of the uprising in
    September 2000.

    In the meantime Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie reacted to his
    Israeli counterpart's trip to Washington to discuss the Gaza pull-out
    plan on Monday before entering the weekly cabinet meeting in the West
    Bank city of Ramallah.

    Qurie told reporters the Palestinian position if the U.S. gives assurances
    to Israel.

    "This is rejected, it will bring no solution... Anything that jeopardises
    the final status issues is rejected," said Qurie.

    Israeli political sources said on Sunday (April 11) that Prime Minister
    Ariel Sharon will seek a written U.S. pledge that in exchange for a Gaza
    pull-out, Israel will not have to give up all of the West Bank under a future peace
    deal.

    There was little U.S. comment ahead of Sharon's talks at the White House
    with President George W. Bush on his unilateral plan to withdraw from Gaza
    and four of the 120 Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

    U.S. sources in Washington said last week "understandings" had been reached
    with Israel on key aspects of Sharon's plan after officials close to him said he
    expected approval to retain parts of the West Bank.

    Palestinians, while welcoming the prospect of an Israeli pull-out from the
    Gaza Strip, fear the move masks intentions to annex West Bank settlement blocs.

    "We discussed it with the Americans and we said it is we who need
    guarantees. We also want a Security Council resolution so that this process
    (the Gaza pull-out) would be given international legitimacy," Qurie told
    reporters.

    The Israeli sources said Washington's assurance would come in a letter Bush
    will hand Sharon on Wednesday (April 14) at a meeting expected to give a
    U.S. green light for Israel to unilaterally "disengage" from Palestinians.

    The Israeli daily Haaretz, quoting from what it said was the planned letter
    from Bush, said borders to be established under any final peace accord would reflect "demographic realities", an allusion to large settlement enclaves in the West Bank.

    A source in Sharon's office said the issue would be on the Washington
    agenda.

    The Palestinians want all of the West Bank and Gaza, seized by Israel in
    the 1967 Middle East war, for a viable state they hope to establish under a
    U.S.-backed peace "road map".

    The removal of unauthorised settlements, long demanded by the United States
    under a stalled peace plan, would go some way to please Israel's main ally as
    Sharon seeks support for a pullout from the Gaza Strip.

    Some 240,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip alongside
    about 3.5 million Palestinians. Settlements are widely seen as illegal by the
    international community, though Israel disputes this.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register