A Palestinain woman holds a portrait of Saddam Hussein during a pro-Iraq demonstration in the West Bank town of Ramallah Dec. 17. (AP)

By Lee Hockstader
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, December 18, 1998; Page A55

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec. 17 – Arab newspapers were predictably scathing today in their criticism of the U.S. and British airstrikes against Iraq, an attitude echoed on the streets of this West Bank city and throughout the Middle East. But many major Arab leaders measured their words, often limiting their comments to expressions of concern about the welfare of Iraqi civilians.

The muted official response reflects the deep anger that many Arab leaders harbor toward Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, notwithstanding their reservations about military action or the international trade sanctions that they see as causing far more harm to ordinary Iraqis than to the regime.

Although Palestinians in several West Bank towns demonstrated in support of Iraq, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who basked in President Clinton's presence in Gaza and Palestinian-controlled Bethlehem earlier this week, was notably silent. That represented an about-face from the 1991 Persian Gulf War, when he openly sided with Saddam Hussein.

One of Arafat's top aides, Saeb Erekat, delivered a carefully worded statement on the American action that fell short of outright condemnation.

"We demand an immediate cessation of this strike against Iraq," said Erekat, a principal Palestinian negotiator with Israel and the United States. "We believe that only through peaceful means can such problems be solved."

There is no denying that the missile and airstrikes, coming just before the month-long Muslim holiday of Ramadan, are broadly unpopular in the Arab world. Arab public opinion typically sees the United States as exercising a double standard by insisting on Iraq's compliance with U.N. resolutions on weapons of mass destruction while overlooking Israel's defiance of U.N. resolutions, including the demand that it withdraw unconditionally from southern Lebanon, for example.

The secretary general of the Arab League, Esmat Abdel-Meguid, said, "This strike is considered to be an act of aggression against an Arab country that was trying to implement and comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions." He also asked why Israel, which has suspended implementation of a U.S.-brokered peace agreement, is going unpunished.

Similarly, Salim Hoss, the newly designated Lebanese prime minister, condemned the airstrikes as "a collective punishment and flagrant violation of all international charters on human rights."

The reaction was even more vociferous on the street.

Palestinians held their largest pro-Iraq rally in the West Bank city of Nablus, where several thousand took to the streets, chanting "Death to America!" and "Death to Clinton!" In the bustling West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinians nearly set fire to the towering municipal Christmas tree when they burned a U.S. flag, along with those of Britain and Israel, in a small rally in the central square. Israeli troops shot and killed a 16-year-old youth during a pro-Iraq demonstration near Ramallah.

"Clinton gave a very nice speech in Gaza. People liked it," said Anis Abu Hakhneh, a courtly 63-year-old barber in Ramallah. "But it seems like he had a hidden agenda to postpone his day of judgment on his affairs with Monica. ... We don't know what is in his heart."

In Amman, Jordan, dozens of women chanted pro-Iraq slogans and waved placards denouncing American attacks aimed at punishing Baghdad for failing to cooperate with U.N. arms inspections.

Several thousand students also demonstrated against the raids at Cairo University. At the American University in Beirut, students staged a sit-in and blasted the American raids as well as the acquiescence of Arab governments. "They bury their heads in the sand out of fear and shame," read one poster.

Since the last showdown with Iraq in mid-November, the Clinton administration has coaxed a number of the major Arab governments into distancing themselves from Iraq – an effort that helps to explain the relative restraint with which most of them greeted American action against Baghdad.

A senior Arab diplomat in Cairo said a summit of the 22-member Arab League is unlikely because Arab leaders harbor little sympathy for Saddam Hussein, Reuters reported. Gulf Arab governments were low-key in their responses, with Qatar and Oman simply expressing concern at the safety of Iraqi citizens.

Iran, which fought an eight-year war against Iraq in the 1980s, said one of its southern cities was hit by a stray missile, causing damage but no casualties. It called the strikes unacceptable and urged the United Nations to halt the operation. At the same time, however, Iran urged Baghdad to comply with U.N. resolutions.

Israeli Jews were generally supportive of the American action. Although Israel was the target of several dozen Iraqi Scud missile attacks during the Persian Gulf War, a repeat performance is considered highly unlikely and the government has repeatedly assured citizens that they are on the sidelines of the conflict.

Nonetheless, the government opened 65 gas-mask distribution centers and urged citizens to make sure they have adequate stocks of plastic sheeting and masking tape to seal off rooms and homes against any threat of biological and chemical weapons attacks.

In Tel Aviv, hardware store was offering a special: Buy two nylon sheets and get a flashlight free.

But most Israelis already have gas masks and materials with which they can seal their homes, and there was no panicked rush to stock up.

Correspondent Nora Boustany in Beirut contributed to this report.