CAIRO (Egypt) - AN ESTIMATED 50,000 people protested in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria after Friday prayers, joining thousands of people in more than a dozen cities in the Middle East and elsewhere rallying against the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The protests coincided with a call from Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi for Arab countries to allow their citizens to fight the Israelis in Gaza - the strongest such push by an Arab leader since Israel began its operation against the militant Palestinian group Hamas two weeks ago.
'I call on the Arabs to open the gate for volunteers to fight with the Palestinians,' Libya's official news agency JANA quoted Gadhafi as saying.
The protesters who thronged the streets of Alexandria berated Egypt for not opening its border with Gaza, chanting 'Shame on Egypt'.
Egypt has allowed a trickle of wounded Palestinians to enter the country but has resisted demands to grant more of Gaza's 1.4 million citizens entry.
The leader of Friday prayers in the Iranian capital of Tehran also criticized Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for not opening the country's border with Gaza.
'Are you a servant of Israel?' said Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati before thousands of Iranians took to the streets chanting 'Death to Israel' and 'Death to America'.
The Alexandria protest - the largest such demonstration in Egypt - saw a gathering of 50,000, according to a Cairo police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Record numbers of protesters also turned out in Algeria's capital, an indication of growing international resentment against the Gaza offensive, which Israel has said is designed to stop Hamas rocket fire into the country. More than 750 Palestinians have died since the Israeli offensive began Dec 27.
Many of the tens of thousands of people who protested in Algiers waved Palestinian or Algerian flags. Hundreds of the protesters pelted riot police with stones and sticks, and several were arrested, said security officials.
Police in Jordan's capital of Amman fired tear gas to disperse more than 2,000 people who took to the streets to show their support for the Palestinians and demand that the Israeli Embassy be closed.
Many of the protesters held pictures of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, praising him for expelling the Israeli ambassador.
Thousands of Palestinians also rallied in towns throughout the West Bank, though marches in at least one city dissolved into infighting between factions.
Five thousand marchers took to the streets in Biblical city of Hebron in the largest protest since the Israeli campaign began. When protesters entered an Israeli controlled area, the army fired tear gas and rubber bullets, while protesters threw rocks and bottles.
In Ramallah, scuffles broke out when supporters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement hit rival Hamas supporters with sticks.
Relations between the two groups have collapsed since Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007, leaving Mr Abbas with control over only the West Bank.
Protesters also took to the streets outside of the Middle East, in the capitals of Greece, Turkey, Kenya and Malaysia and in cities in Holland and Bulgaria.
Some 3,000 people waved Palestinian flags and chanted anti-Israel slogans as they protested in front of the US Embassy in Malaysia's capital of Kuala Lumpur.
'We are urging the American government to demand that Israel withdraw from Gaza,' said activist Adnan Mohamad Tahir.
But the largest protests were within the Middle East. Some 15,000 people participated in a rally in the Qatari capital of Doha led by influential Sunni cleric Youssef al-Qaradawi.
At Friday prayers before the rally, al-Qaradawi urged Arab and Muslim leaders to 'fear God and defend Palestine, or you will be swept away by history'. -- AP
