Once-Banned Palestinians Applauded in Jordan

Two Marxist Palestinians who were banned from Jordan for 20 years were greeted by loud applause as a conference of leftist and Islamic groups convened Saturday to demonstrate solidarity with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.

The participation of George Habash and Nayef Hawatmeh underscored a growing alliance between Iraq and radical Arab factions that is alarming Western officials.

Habash is leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Nayef Hawatmeh heads the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Habash and other Palestinian leaders were kicked out of Jordan after the 1970 civil war pitting PLO rebels against the Jordanian army. The war started when Habash’s guerrillas hijacked three jetliners and blew them up in the Jordanian desert.

Habash was welcomed back at the start of a three-day conference of Arab leftists and Islamic activists sympathetic to Iraq. They demand that the U.S.-led multinational force leave the Persian Gulf region.

Jordan’s King Hussein, considered a U.S. ally, has been tilting toward his powerful neighbor since Iraq invaded Kuwait Aug. 2. The king has said he opposes the occupation of Kuwait but wants an Arab solution of the crisis.

In his speech Saturday, Habash urged Washington to avoid double standards in dealing with Iraq’s invasion and Israel’s occupation of Arab territories.

“We reject the U.S. principle of selectivity in dealing with the U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Habash said in a speech, marked by ovations from the audience of about 150 delegates.

Shortly after the invasion, Saddam Hussein said he would contemplate leaving Kuwait only if U.N. resolutions calling for Israel’s withdrawal from occupied lands were implemented at the same time. Israel seized the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights in 1967.

His declaration threw many Palestinian leaders into his camp. Habash, who had been based in Syria, moved to Baghdad.