Many Palestinians express dismay former tyrant didn't fight back or commit suicide
Posted: December 14, 2003
2:52 p.m. Eastern
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
Many Palestinians have expressed sadness and dismay at yesterday's capture of former Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein.
After the announcement of Saddam's capture, reports the Jewish newssite JTA.org, Islamic Jihad leader Nafiz Azam said: "The Palestinian people are sad today because the Americans achieved something. But what happened today will not spare the Americans the ambushes they are experiencing. The Iraqi resistance will continue."
Even though many in the Arab world acknowledged Hussein was a tyrant, he was also widely regarded as modern-day Saladin, who ejected the Crusaders from the Middle East.
In the Palestinian territories, in particular, Saddam's popularity was bolstered by his awarding of large amounts of money to the families of suicide bombers.
So far, Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat has not commented on the capture of his former colleague. But Mohammed Horani, a legislator from Arafat's ruling Fatah movement, said in an Associated Press account that he expected Palestinians and Arabs to have mixed feelings. "Saddam is a dictator and the Iraqi people suffered under him, but on the other hand, it was the (American) occupation that caught him," he said. "There will be a sense of confusion in the public."
For many in the Arab world, Saddam's abject surrender comes as a shock, who believe he should have fought back or committed suicide. "I had expected him to have fought back, or at least end his life," Horani told AP. "But then again, all dictators are cowards."
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