ALGIERS, Algeria, March 27 (UPI) -- Algerian opposition parties called for jihad, or holy Muslim war, against U.S. and British troops in Iraq and demanded the immediate halt of the raging war.
The president of the National Islamic Reform Movement, the main opposition party, Saad Abdullah Jaballah, called on Thursday for boycotting U.S. and British products and asked Arab countries to stop catering to U.S. planes and ships in Algerian ports and airports.
He issued a religious edict, which he said was supported by Algeria's religious authorities, calling on Algerian men, women and children to wage holy Muslim war against U.S. and British invaders in Iraq.
He accused the U.S. of seeking to ensure permanent security for the "Zionist entity" and paving the ground for achieving Israel's dream of expanding its territory between the Euphrates in Iraq and the Nile in Egypt.
He compared the U.S.-British invasion of Iraq to the 1830 French occupation of Algeria, noting that Arab silence over Algeria's occupation at the time led to the successive downfall of all Arab and Muslim regions. "This will happen again if Baghdad is taken over by the U.S. forces," he warned.
He said Saudi Arabia will be partitioned into two states, one in the east where oil and the Shiites are concentrated. He also warned that a Christian Coptic state might be created in Egypt, while Algeria's turn will come next.
