MOSCOW. Feb 28 (Interfax) - Leaders of the largest Jewish organizations in Russia have voiced opposition to a possible war against Iraq.

Iraq is part of the Holy Land, where sacred history took place, head of the Congress of Jewish Religious Communities and Organizations Zinovy Kogan told Interfax. According to the Bible, the Garden of Eden was located in the city of Ur on the Euphrates River. Abraham, the father of all peoples, was born there, Kogan noted.

However, "all land where a baby is born and a flower grows is holy. All of us are the children of the same land. God equally loves all his children, including residents of Iraq, or New York or Moscow," he said.

Although he does not admire Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Kogan opposes a war as a means of getting even with him. "If Hussein is, in effect, a criminal, it does not mean that hundreds of bombs should rip through the Iraqi land to get rid of him," he said.

It is probably more difficult to peacefully resolve the Iraq problem, but "that is why civilian presidents are elected," he said.

Russia's chief Rabbi Adof Shayevich reaffirmed that "a bad peace is better that a good war, and while there is a chance to reach agreement, it should be used."

Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar pointed out that "in any conflict, primarily an international one, the use of force should be the last resort when all the other means have been exhausted."

"A war is a disaster. Even with a favorable outcome, innocent people, civilians, suffer because they are hostages of the situation," Lazar said.

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