Hamas Threatens Attacks On Israel

The militant Islamic group Hamas threatened Tuesday to attack Israel if the United States attacks Iraq.

Hundreds of Palestinian high school and university students, meanwhile, marched in support of Iraq through the West Bank town of Bethlehem, burning U.S. and Israeli flags and shouting "Saddam, we want the chemicals!" and "Beloved Saddam, hit Tel Aviv!" Palestinian police set up human barricades to block the marchers from reaching an Israeli army roadblock.

The leaflet, distributed to news organizations in Gaza and the West Bank town of Ramallah, was signed by the military wing of Hamas.

"We will not stand with our hands tied if the people of Iraq and the children of Iraq or any other peaceful Arab people are subject to American military aggression," it said. "We shall respond to that in our own way, and that is by striking deep into the Zionist entity. "

The most recent Hamas attack against Israel came Sept. 4, when eight people, including three suicide bombers, died in a bombing on a pedestrian mall in Jerusalem. Eighteen people, including two bombers, died in another attack in Jerusalem on July 30.

Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the group's spiritual leader, denied knowledge of the leaflet.

"The Palestinian people are part of the Arab world ... it is natural that there be a reaction by the people to what is happening in Iraq," he said.

Israel, meanwhile, has sent a message to Baghdad that it will not launch a preventive strike against Iraq, an Israeli newspaper reported today.

According to the daily Haaretz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent the message to Iraq last week via Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia's ambassador to Israel. Bogdanov relayed to Netanyahu that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein sent his assurances that he had no intention of striking Israel if his country was attacked by the United States, the report said.

A spokesman for Netanyahu refused to comment on the report.

In Bethlehem, 400 students marched from Bethlehem University, carrying banners and Iraqi and Palestinian flags. One banner read, "Bush lost, Clinton will lose, and Iraq will remain."

"We are all with you, Saddam," the marchers chanted, adding "Clinton you coward, run to Monica."

The Palestinian Authority last week banned pro-Iraq protests, but the order has largely been ignored.

Palestinian radio and television stations have been ordered not to broadcast any commentary related to the Gulf crisis, and Palestinian police on Monday shut down a Bethlehem TV station that had been airing a call-in show on the subject.

Today, police closed down the Voice of Love and Peace, Ramallah's largest radio station. The order, signed by police chief Ghazi Jabali, said the closing was "in the public interest." The station was allowed to resume broadcasting six hours later after station officials met with Palestinian authorities.

By Ibrahim Barzak
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