Relations between the Arab Republic of

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and State of Palestine have historically been close, with

Palestinian Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and sta ...

supported by the Ba'athist Iraqi regime during the second half of the 20th century, and vice versa, Iraqi Ba'athist regime supported by PLO leadership during the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

. The State of Palestine has an embassy and consulate in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesipho ...

and

Erbil Erbil, also called Hawler (, ar, أربيل, Arbīl; syr, ܐܲܪܒܹܝܠ, Arbel), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It lies in the Erbil Governorate. It has an estimated population of around 1,600,000. H ...

accordingly, but Iraq doesn't have an embassy in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East J ...

History

Iraq declared war on the newly established

Jewish state In world politics, Jewish state is a characterization of Israel as the nation-state and sovereign homeland of the Jewish people. Modern Israel came into existence on 14 May 1948 as a polity to serve as the homeland for the Jewish people. It ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in 1948; since then, relations between the two states have remained hostile. Iraq has strongly supported the cause of the Palestinians since then. Iraq sent armies to fight Israel in 1948 and 1967. Iraq also sent troops to provide back-up for Syria's armed forces in the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Eg ...

in 1973.

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

was widely revered in

Arab nations The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western As ...

for his

anti-Israel Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestin ...

stance and has supported several Palestinian guerrilla and militant organisations, and during the last

Second Intifada The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinians, Palestinian uprising a ...

, Iraq subsidized families of Palestinian martyrs. In 1991, Hussein's army fired 39

Scud A Scud missile is one of a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was exported widely to both Second and Third World countries. The term comes from the NATO reporting name attached to the mis ...

missiles at Israel. However, Israel did not retaliate due to pressure exerted by the US and no further action has been taken from either side since. According to British author Nigel Ashton, Israeli Prime Minister

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; he, יִצְחָק רַבִּין, ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77, and from 1992 until ...

sent a message to Saddam Hussein through

King Hussein of Jordan Hussein bin Talal ( ar, الحسين بن طلال, ''Al-Ḥusayn ibn Ṭalāl''; 14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from 11 August 1952 until Death and state funeral of King Hussein, his death in 1999. As a member of the ...

requesting a meeting between him and Saddam. Rabin hoped peace with Iraq might encourage

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

and Syria to do the same. Rabin was assassinated on November 4, 1995, ending the contact between governments. Rabin had previously supervised Operation Bramble Bush, a failed 1992 plan to assassinate Saddam with

Sayeret Matkal General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (formerly Unit 269 or Unit 262), more commonly known as Sayeret Matkal ( he, סיירת מטכ״ל) is the special reconnaissance unit (''sayeret'') of Israel's General Staff (''matkal''). It is the prime special ...

commandos. Former

Iraqi Prime Minister The prime minister of Iraq is the head of government of Iraq. On 27 October 2022, Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani became the incumbent prime minister. History The prime minister was originally an appointed office, subsidiary to the head of state, ...

Ayad Allawi Ayad Allawi ( ar, إيَاد عَلَّاوِي ; born 31 May 1944) is an Iraqi politician. He served as the vice president of Iraq from 2014 to 2015 and 2016 to 2018. Previously he was interim prime minister of Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and the ...

said in 2004 that Iraq would not reconcile its differences with Israel. During the 2008–2009 Israel-Gaza conflict, the

Iraqi government The federal government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution, approved in 2005, as an Islamic, democratic, federal parliamentary republic. The federal government is composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as ...

condemned the attack, stating that: "the Iraqi government demands a halt to the military operations, that civilians’ lives are not unnecessarily exposed to danger and requests that the international community honour its responsibilities and take the required measures to stop the attack". The

Dawa Party The Islamic Dawa Party, also known as the Islamic Call Party ( ar, حزب الدعوة الإسلامية, Ḥizb ad-Daʿwa al-Islāmiyya), is an Shia Islamist political party in Iraq. Dawa and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council are two of the ...

of Prime Minister

Nouri al-Maliki Nouri Kamil Muhammad-Hasan al-Maliki ( ar, نوري المالكي; born 20 June 1950), also known as Jawad al-Maliki (), is secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party and was the prime minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014 and the vice presiden ...

called on Islamic countries to cut relations with Israel and end all "secret and public talks" with it.Gaza protests extend from Mideast to Europe
MSN.com. Also the Iraqi Shia leader

Ali al-Sistani Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani ( ar, علي الحسيني السيستاني; fa, , Ali-ye Hoseyni-ye Sistāni; born 4 August 1930), commonly known as Ayatollah Sistani, is an Iranian–Iraqi Twelver Shia Ayatollah and marja'. He has been described ...

has called for decisive action by Arab and Muslim states for an end to Israeli attacks on Gaza. Though he condemned the operation, he stated that "supporting our brothers only with words is meaningless, considering the big tragedy they are facing." After the 2010

Gaza flotilla raid The Gaza flotilla raid was a military operation by Israel against six civilian ships of the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" on 31 May 2010 in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea. Nine activists and no Israelis were killed on one ship duri ...

, an Iraqi government official, MP Khairallah al-Basri (a member of current premier

State of Law Coalition The State of Law Coalition ( ar, إئتلاف دولة القانون ''I'tilāf Dawlat al-Qānūn''), also known as Rule of Law Coalition, is an Iraqi political coalition formed for the 2009 Iraqi governorate elections by the Prime Minister of ...

), condemned the attack and described it as a "new humanitarian disaster" as well as "a violation of human rights and a breach of international standards and norms." On July 1, 2012, Iraqi Prime Minister

said that Iraq will establish diplomatic relations with all sovereign United Nations member states except Israel. He said that Iraq does not discriminate against any country but he rejected the idea of establishing any cultural, economic, military, or political ties with the Jewish state. During the November 2012

Operation Pillar of Defense In November 2012, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Pillar of Defense ( he, עַמּוּד עָנָן, ''ʿAmúd ʿAnán'', literally: " Pillar of Cloud") which was an eight-day campaign in the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip, which be ...

in the Gaza Strip, Iraq's envoy to the Arab League called on the Arab countries to "use the weapon of oil, with the aim of asserting real pressure on the United States and whoever stands with Israel". In 2017, the

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

city of

Qalqilya Qalqilya or Qalqiliya ( ar, قلقيلية, Qalqīlyaḧ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank which serves as the administrative center of the Qalqilya Governorate of the State of Palestine. In the 2007 census, the city had a population of 41 ...

named a street after Saddam Hussein and erected a memorial with his likeness. The monument was unveiled at a ceremony attended by the Qalqilya District Governor and two other Palestinian officials. It bears the slogan "Saddam Hussein – The Master of the Martyrs in Our Age".

References

External links

JORDAN'S CHANGING RELATIONS WITH IRAQ
{{Foreign relations of Palestine Bilateral relations of the State of Palestine

History

See also

References

External links