DUBAI Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden accused some Arab leaders of being ‘complicit’ with Israel and the West against Muslims and urged holy war to liberate the Palestinian territories, in an audio tape broadcast by Al-Jazeera television on Saturday.‘It has become clear that some Arab leaders were complicit with the Crusader Zionist alliance against our people. These are the leaders that America calls moderate,’ said bin Laden, without singling out any leaders. ‘The countries of the Muslim world from Indonesia to Mauritania are divided into two: Some of them are crooked, while others are even more crooked,’ he added, in excerpts of the tape aired by the Doha-based channel. In the tape, whose authenticity could not be confirmed, bin Laden labelled the devastating offensive by Israel against Gaza at the new year as a Holocaust. ‘The Holocaust of Gaza amid a long siege is an important historical event that confirms the importance of distinguishing between Muslims and hypocrites,’ said the al Qaeda leader, who carries a 25-million-dollar US bounty on his head. He called on jihadists to ‘liberate’ Iraq from the US army and then launch attacks on Israel from Jordan. ‘We should work hard and prepare for jihad (holy war) in order to bring about what is right,’ said bin Laden, who is widely believed to have found refuge in Pakistan's largely lawless tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan. ‘There is a precious rare chance for those who have a sincere desire to liberate Al-Aqsa mosque (in Jerusalem), which is by supporting the mujahedeen in Iraq ... and then going to Jordan as it is the best and widest of fronts.’ From Jordan, jihadists should launch into the West Bank and its neighbouring areas, he said. ‘The road to the liberation of Gaza needs real, sincere, independent, strong and honest leaders who are on top of major events,’ he added. Bin Laden suggested compiling a list of people ‘whose efforts serve our enemies’ and said committees should be formed in Muslim countries to raise awareness among citizens. He did not elaborate. The United States downplayed the recording, saying there was nothing new in it. ‘Al Qaeda addresses these themes with some frequency and at this point, there doesn't appear to be anything new here,’ a counterterrorism official told AFP. ‘These are well-worn themes for al Qaeda.’ The tape was the second by bin Laden in two months in which he has focused on the Gaza offensive. On January 14, he called on Muslims across the world to take revenge against Israel for the blitz, charging that the onslaught had been timed to take advantage of the dying days of the presidency of George W. Bush.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment