Hussein Urges Muslims to Back Palestinians

King Hussein today urged the Muslim world to support the rebellion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, where more than 100 Arabs and an Israeli soldier have been killed since Dec. 8.

Opening a conference of foreign ministers of the 46-member Organization of Islamic Conference, he said:

“The Palestinian people have a rightful claim on us to support their uprising both on the national and international level so that the uprising may bear fruit.”

The king did not elaborate on what forms aid should take, but asked the ministers to support an international conference on Middle East peace.

‘Heroically Fighting’

Sharifuddin Pir Zadeh, secretary-general of the Islamic conference, said earlier that protesters in the Israeli-occupied territories should be supported “financially and morally.”

Hussein said the Palestinians were “heroically fighting for their freedom and national rights and defying in their uprising the arrogance of the forces of occupation.”

He said there should be a seat for the Palestine Liberation Organization at an international peace conference, which would involve the parties to the conflict and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council: the United States, Soviet Union, Britain, France and China.

By calling for a PLO seat at the conference, Hussein set himself apart from U.S. peace proposals, which he discussed in Amman on Sunday with U.S. envoy Philip C. Habib. The U.S. plan does not call for a PLO seat at the conference.

“The uprising of the Palestinian people is not an end in itself nor is it a transient coincidental event that will soon wither away,” Hussein said. “It is rather an expression of the will of an entire nation to fight for its freedom and right of self-determination in its own land.”

Rebellion Dominates Agenda

The rebellion in the occupied territories, which Palestinians call “the uprising,” and the Iran-Iraq War dominate the agenda of the meeting, at which all members of the conference except Chad are represented.

King Hussein, who supports Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War, called the conflict a “deep wound in the body” of the Muslim world that is “bleeding and draining our resources and energies.”

“Our hope is that Iran . . . will accept Security Council Resolution 598, which represents the will of the international community,” he said.