2008 Woodie Awards
Osama bin Laden urges holy war instead of peace
By: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Issue date: 3/21/08 Section: World
CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden lashed out yesterday at Palestinian peace negotiations with Israel and called for a holy war to liberate the Palestinian lands.
A day after a bin Laden audio on a militant Web site threatened Europeans, Al-Jazeera TV broadcast audio excerpts attributed to the al-Qaida leader that urge Palestinians to ignore political parties "mired in trickery of the blasphemous democracy" and to rely on armed might.
"Palestine cannot be retaken by negotiations and dialogue, but with fire and iron," he said.
It was the first time bin Laden spoke of the Palestinian question at length since the deteriorating situation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military has been fighting with militants who fire rockets into southern Israel.
Bin Laden added that Palestinians who are unable to fight in the "land of Al-Quds" - a Muslim reference to Jerusalem - should join the al-Qaida fight in Iraq.
"The nearest field of jihad today to support our people in Palestine is the Iraqi field," he said.
He also called on the people of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to "help in support of their mujahedeen brothers in Iraq, which is the greatest opportunity and the biggest task."
Al-Jazeera did not say how it obtained the recording, which was broadcast with an old photograph of bin Laden in a white headscarf and traditional Arab dress.
A day after a bin Laden audio on a militant Web site threatened Europeans, Al-Jazeera TV broadcast audio excerpts attributed to the al-Qaida leader that urge Palestinians to ignore political parties "mired in trickery of the blasphemous democracy" and to rely on armed might.
"Palestine cannot be retaken by negotiations and dialogue, but with fire and iron," he said.
It was the first time bin Laden spoke of the Palestinian question at length since the deteriorating situation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military has been fighting with militants who fire rockets into southern Israel.
Bin Laden added that Palestinians who are unable to fight in the "land of Al-Quds" - a Muslim reference to Jerusalem - should join the al-Qaida fight in Iraq.
"The nearest field of jihad today to support our people in Palestine is the Iraqi field," he said.
He also called on the people of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to "help in support of their mujahedeen brothers in Iraq, which is the greatest opportunity and the biggest task."
Al-Jazeera did not say how it obtained the recording, which was broadcast with an old photograph of bin Laden in a white headscarf and traditional Arab dress.
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