- MANAMA (Reuters) - Protesters
in the pro-Western Gulf Arab state of Bahrain set fire to U.S. and Israeli
flags on Friday in a 10,000-strong anti-Israeli demonstration.
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- The mainly Shi'ite Muslim demonstrators carried huge
portraits of Iran's late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
and his successor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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- "Death to Bush, Death to Sharon," they chanted,
referring to President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The
march passed peaceful through a wealthy suburb of the capital, Manama.
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- A U.S.-backed peace "road map" envisaging establishment
of a Palestinian state is all but dead after months of Israeli strikes
against Palestinian targets in the West Bank and suicide bombings by Islamist
militants in Israel.
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- Protesters, who see Israel as the unyielding guilty party
in the stalemate, also set ablaze British flags to mark International Jerusalem
Day, an Iranian-inspired event held each year on the last Friday of the
holy fasting month of Ramadan to promote Palestinians' claim to Jerusalem.
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- Bahrain hosts the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's Fifth
Fleet and was formally designated by Bush last year a major non-NATO ally.
"We are angry with America, with Israel and even with Britain. Britain
was the one that started the Palestinian problem," said Ali, as he
poured fuel on a British flag before setting it afire.
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