Three families of Palestinian “martyrs” were each given 10,000 dollars by Saddam Hussein despite the US-led advance on Baghdad, and no one here could imagine it might be the last hand-out from the Iraqi leader. The money was given out on a platform decorated in the colours of the Iraqi and Palestinian flags and within sight of the northern Gaza border crossing of Erez, manned by Israeli soldiers. Under a portrait of a beaming Saddam, speakers took turns to address a silent and attentive crowd of 1,000 people. At the forefront of the crowd was an old man in Bedouin dress and a despondent-looking 50-year-old holding a photo of a bearded youth bearing a rifle and bandolier. The framed photo, prettified with aluminium foil and fake flowers, shows the two men’s grandson and son Abdelkarim Shabat, a member of the radical Islamic group Hamas killed last December by an Israeli tank while trying to attack a Jewish settlement close to the town. Full Story
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