Hamas Urges Iraqis to Make Suicide Attacks on the Invaders

As Muslim preachers in the Gaza Strip inveighed today against war in Iraq as a war on Islam, leaders of the Palestinian group Hamas urged Iraqis to use suicide as a weapon against invading troops. “As long as there is an American aggression against a Muslim country, Iraqis must defend themselves, using all means,” Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas leader, said in a telephone interview from Gaza City. He said the Iraqis should conduct “martyrdom operations, using explosive belts against the American and British soldiers.” Although a few thousand protesters marched against the war through Gaza City today, it was another relatively quiet day in Israel and the occupied territories. Surfers in gleaming wet suits bobbed on their boards and scanned the horizon to the west for waves. Many Israelis, including schoolchildren, complied with government instructions and carried gas masks in cardboard boxes dangling from straps over their shoulders. But others did not bother. Full Story