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"Now that the Iraqi people, thanks to America and Britain, are getting rid of their own brutal dictatorship, we hope that also our Palestinian neighbours will draw the right conclusions and give the necessary authority to a more peaceful leadership of their own, said Zalman Shoval, aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
He said any new Palestinian leadership should "fight against terror and violence and engage Israel in genuine peace talks based on compromise".
"The rapid and, to me not surprising, events in Baghdad and the soon-to-be expected disappearance of the Saddam regime may create the chance for a new and more peaceful Middle East which hopefully will have a beneficial effect also with regard to other terrorist or terrorist-supporting forces in the region," said Shoval.
Shoval, a foreign policy advisor to the prime minister, was talking as US forces took over the heart of Baghdad and Iraqis danced on a giant statue of Saddam Hussein dragged down by a US armoured vehicle.
Israel and the United States want Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat dropped and replaced by a moderate government with whom peace talks can resume.
It also hopes the forcible regime change in Baghdad will send a message to other hardline regimes in the region, including Syria, Iran and Libya.
"A very large threat which was hanging over Israel's eastern border has disappeared ... Without Iraq, there is no longer the possibility of a united Arab front on our eastern border," General Amos Gilad said earlier this week.
"Saddam's regime was a threat to us. Its disappearance bolsters American hegemony in the region and deprives Syria of its strategic rear," he said.
No officials from the Palestinian Authority were available for comment, although leaders of radical Islamic groups lamented the demise of the Iraqi stringman who had handed out millions of dollars to the families of suicide bombers and those killed by Israeli forces.
"We are very sad about what happened to Baghdad and the Iraqi people, but we expected it given the power of Iraq compared to the superpower of the United States," Hamas political leader Abdelaziz al-Rantissi said in Gaza.
"We hope in future Iraq will change to Islam (from the secular Baath party of Saddam Hussein) and there will be an intifada of all the Iraqi and Gulf people against American Zionism. We greatly regret what happened to our brother people.
Both he and Mohammed al-Hindi, a leader of the smaller Islamic Jihad group said they expected Israel to escalate its operations against the Palestinians in the aftermath of the US forcible regime change.
But both said they would resist.
"It will be like Beirut in 1982. In the end the popular resistance will win," said Hindi, referring to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon under Sharon as defence minister.
Israel forces stayed in Lebanon for 18 years before puling out in May 2000 after years of attacks by the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran.
"Israel will use what is happening in Iraq to escalate its destruction and massacres but our resistance will escalate," he said.
Israeli forces killed 11 Palestinians in raids on Gaza late Tuesday and on Wednesday.
In the streets of Gaza, many expressed sadness at the fall of a man they saw as the only remaining symbol of Arab defiance to Washington and Israel.
"Baghdad's defeat stands today as a symbol for the region. If the United States invaded any other Arab country, I can bet you that people would display the same sentiment of relief," sighed Mahmud, the owner of a clothing shop.
His neighbour Mohammed said Palestinians would mourn Saddam even if he was a despot to his own people.
"Iraqis were surely oppressed, but to us Saddam will stay a hero because he was the only Arab leader who resisted the United States and Israel," he said.
"The United States is the greatest enemy of Islam and their presence in the region is simply unacceptable," he said.
Ali, a cosmetics shop-owner, warned that Iraqis may have "rejoiced today, but they just don't know what awaits them tomorrow" under US occupation.
SPACE.WIRE |