Libya's Gaddafi Says Open Arab Borders to Fighters

[boblandis]

TRIPOLI, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi led a mass march through Tripoli to show solidarity with Palestinians Monday and urged Arab states to allow volunteer fighters to cross borders and join the Palestinian uprising.

"Arab leaders have to take to the streets and join protesters, open the borders to people who want to fight to free al Qods (Jerusalem) and Abu Ammar and incite people to fight," Gaddafi told a rally at Green Square in central Tripoli.

Eyewitnesses said thousands marched in the Libyan capital to protest against Israel's siege of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, also known by his nom de guerre, Abu Ammar. They halted in Green Square and the adjacent streets to hear Gaddafi's fiery oratory.

"Thousands of Libyans are ready to defend the Palestinian people. I challenge Arab leaders to open the borders for them to cross into Palestine," he said.

Gaddafi did not say which countries he wanted to open their borders to Libyan volunteers. Only Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria have borders with Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The mercurial Libyan leader said the Arabs had the right to fight Israel because the Jewish state had dismissed a Saudi peace initiative and poured more troops and tanks into Palestinian areas.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared Arafat an "enemy" Friday and sent tanks to besiege him in his headquarters compound in Ramallah after a suicide bomber killed 22 Israelis in the coastal resort of Netanya.

Israeli tanks and armored bulldozers smashed their way into the headquarters and cut water and electricity supplies and telephone lines. Troops have clashed with his bodyguards, raising fears for Arafat's life.

"We are the victims of aggression. We in the Middle East and North Africa are staying on our land. We did not go overseas to attack other people. We are in a state of legitimate self-defense," Gaddafi said.

Gaddafi, like many Arabs, believes that most Israelis are foreigners who came from outside the Middle East to take land owned by Palestinians.

In Tunis, the capital of neighboring Tunisia, about 5,000 government supporters marched through the city center to denounce the military action ordered by Sharon.

"Sharon butcher, Palestine is an Arab land," shouted protesters, waving pictures of Arafat and Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.