Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 2007, pages 27, 51

Jerusalem Journal

A Sad Eid in Palestine Following the Execution of Saddam Hussain

By Samah Jabr

FOR PALESTINIANS facing a holiday season with empty pockets, barricaded villages and towns, and an intense internecine conflict, the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussain was yet another reason for deep national mourning.

The graphic public dissemination of Saddam’s killing to every home via the Internet and satellite TV not only was incongruent with the general mood and spirit of Eid al-Adha. It was a disgrace to our humanity, and served only to radicalize many moderates angered by the act. This year’s Eid was one of nausea, loss of appetite and loss of joy. Children who were fed a meal of death on the morning of their feast will always preserve that image in their minds. The foreign media circus drowning us in propaganda about Saddam’s alleged crimes and showing pictures of “grateful Iraqis” failed to compensate for the damage caused by the hurtful timing and circumstances of the execution.

The timing of the execution is especially offensive to Sunnis, as Shi’i celebrated the Eid one day later. The chanting and taunting of Shi’i guards prior to Saddam’s execution and the radical Sunni reaction to it reawakened one of Islam’s bloodiest historical conflicts—another reason to grieve. The Shi’i role in the execution is a direct incitement to religious sectarianism and conflict, and will have repercussions beyond the Iraq’s borders, spreading the seeds of conflict within the Muslim and Arab worlds. Resentment against Iran, a Shi’i Muslim nation which has held the Palestinian cause close to its heart, and against Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi’i party which always has been supportive of Palestinians and which gained support throughout the Arab world for its courageous fight against Israel last summer, can only increase following the debacle of Saddam’s execution—thereby doubling the loss for Palestinians.

As always, Palestine is the crossroad where regional enemies meet and where friends divide.

In addition to being one of the Palestinians’ most steadfast allies, Iraq is a brother nation sharing the painful experience of living under foreign occupation. Nor do Palestinians forget how, before the U.S.-led invasion, Iraq helped educate many Palestinians in its universities and, over the years, offered Palestine political and financial support. Iraqi soldiers died for Palestine in 1948 and 1967. Saddam himself defied the United States and fought for the Palestinian cause until the very end. How can Palestinians be indifferent to his execution?

Like Arab people elsewhere, Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank demonstrated in streets and opened homes of condolence for Saddam. Mourning Saddam, however, does not mean that Palestinians condone the alleged horrors he committed, or lack sympathy for the Iraqis who suffered under his regime. What we mourn is the loss of yet another haven for the Palestinian cause. In other words, we mourn Iraq, the Arab and Muslim nations—we mourn ourselves. Moreover, Saddam’s execution is especially ominous for Palestinians because of the seeds of a fractional conflict being sown among us and the reminder that, at any moment, Western intervention can be a prelude to civil war.

One day before the Saddam’s execution, I watched closely the speech of Arafa day, which marks the ritual of the hajj. In his speech, the General Mufti Abdul Aziz Al Sheikh repeated the same old clichés with which all Muslims agree, but failed to make the slightest reference to the sectarian conflict threatening the Muslim nation. Our Sunni leaders must also take responsibility for not encouraging unity and forgiveness between Shi’i and Sunnis. In the face of the dangerous risk of sectarian division, a reconciliatory intervention by wise and moderate religious scholars, intellectuals and politicians is imperative.

But it is not only the timing or the manner of Saddam’s execution that we regret. As do most Western nations, Palestinians oppose the death penalty in general, not only for Saddam but the Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor convicted of having deliberately infected children in Libya with the HIV virus. Nor does Saddam’s extermination

make the world a safer place—instead it means the death of many truths that Saddam’s executioners wanted to die with him.

Adding insult to injury is insisting to the world, and especially to Palestinians, that Saddam’s execution was an act of justice. His regime was no more criminal than many others in the developing world—including those supported by the developed world who do their masters’ dirty work. Who, so far, has been executed for the endless massacres in Palestine, or for the current massacres in Iraq?

Saddam was responsible for both good and bad deeds. Had he been punished for the latter, Washington would have opposed him for many decades, not just the last 15 years. The world knew that Saddam was killing his people, but did nothing to prevent him. Today, Saddam’s crimes look pale in comparison to those being committed by the U.S., UK and Israel.

Those who killed Saddam in such a disgraceful manner proved that they were no less brutal than he, and certainly less wise. Not enforcing the death penalty against Saddam could have been an important contribution to Iraq’s national reconciliation. That, of course, may have been yet another reason Iraq’s enemies were determined to kill him.

In his last letter, Saddam asked all Iraqis to unify in their resistance to the occupation of their country. His final words were God is great, long live Iraq and Palestine is Arab. The faith, calmness, confidence and pride Saddam displayed in the last seconds of his life will remain with those who, even if they opposed his deeds, will look to his last words for comfort and inspiration in the dark days ahead.

Samah Jabr is a physician in her native Jerusalem.

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