BAGHDAD, Oct 3 (AFP) -

              More than 10,000 people demonstrated in the Iraqi capital on Tuesday to
              protest at the "Zionist butchery" against the Palestinians, an AFP
              correspondent reported.

              Foreign Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf, meanwhile, rejected an Arab
              League proposal to call for a UN commission of inquiry into the killings in
              the Palestinian territories and Israel.

              The Iraqi demonstrators carried banners hailing the "resistance of the
              Palestinian people" and condemning the "butchery" carried out by Israeli
              forces.

              "The blood of the Palestinians fills us with pride and the strength to face
              up to the American and Zionist enemy," chanted the demonstrators, who
              included officials of the ruling Baath party.

              The Iraqi government has called for jihad, or Islamic holy war, for the
              "liberation of Palestine" in the wake of the bloodshed.

              Five days of violent clashes left more than 50 dead, almost all of them
              Palestinians. The Palestinian territories were calmer Tuesday after a
              ceasefire accord overnight.

              "Instead of an inquiry by parties whose decisions and policies are dictated
              by the Jewish gang at the Black House, Iraq calls for ... a jihad," Sahhaf
              insisted in a message to the Arab League chief, referring sarcastically to
              the Washington White House.

              On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz also poured scorn on calls for
              an inquiry and hit out at the League's secretary general Esmat Abdel Meguid
              and "weak" Arab leaders seeking a peace deal with Israel.

              "Don't you know that this holy land has been usurped for more than 30 years
              by the Jews and Zionists, while you stick to your illusions and still
              believe in a settlement?" he said.