Title
Bin Laden: Palestinian cause fuels terror war
Link
Bin Laden: Palestinian cause fuels war - Terrorism - MSNBC.com
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Excerpt
Bin Laden: Palestinian cause fuels terror war
Al-Qaida leader tries to seize on issue as Israel marks 60th anniversary
updated 9:47 a.m. CT, Fri., May. 16, 2008
CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden said in a new audio recording released Friday that al-Qaida will continue its holy war against Israel and its allies until it liberates Palestine.
The terrorist leader’s third statement this year came as President Bush was wrapping up his visit to Israel to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state.
Bin Laden said the fight for the Palestinian cause was the most important factor driving al-Qaida’s war with the West and fueled 19 Muslims to carry out the suicide attacks against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
“To Western nations ... this speech is to understand the core reason of the war between our civilization and your civilizations. I mean the Palestinian cause,” said bin Laden in the close to 10 minute audiotape.
“The Palestinian cause is the major issue for my (Islamic) nation. It was an important element in fueling me from the beginning and the 19 others with a great motive to fight for those subjected to injustice and the oppressed,” added bin Laden.
Trying to creata a rallying point
Al-Qaida has been stepping up its attempts to use the Israeli-Arab conflict to rally supporters. Israel has warned of growing al-Qaida activity in Palestinian territory, though the terror network is not believed to have taken a strong role there so far.
The authenticity of the message could not be verified, but it was posted on a Web site commonly used by al-Qaida and the voice resembled the one in past bin Laden audiotapes. Though it was unknown exactly when the audio was recorded, but it referenced Israel’s 60th anniversary, which began May 8.
IntelCenter, a U.S. group that monitors al-Qaida message traffic, said the audio message was accompanied by a photo of bin Laden wearing a white robe and turban next to a picture of the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. It was unclear when the photo of bin Laden was taken.
The al-Qaida leader said the Western media managed to brainwash people over the past 60 years by “portraying the Jewish invaders, the occupiers of our land, as the victims while it portrayed us as the terrorists.”
“Sixty years ago, the Israeli state didn’t exist. Instead, it was established on the land of Palestine raped by force,” said bin Laden. “Israelis are occupying invaders whom we should fight.”
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel dismissed bin Laden’s new message.
“We do not relate or pay attention to the words of this terrorist lunatic,” he said. “The time has come for him to be apprehended and pay for his crimes.”
Thorniest issues unresolved
Bin Laden criticized Western leaders like Bush who participated in Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations. Bush feted Israel on Thursday and predicted that its 120th birthday would find it alongside a Palestinian state and in an all-democratic neighborhood free of today’s oppression, restrictions on freedom and extremist Muslim movements.
Delivering this rosy forecast for the Middle East in 2068 during a speech to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, Bush made no acknowledgment of the hardship Palestinians suffered when hundreds of thousands were displaced following the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, a counterpoint to Israel’s two weeks of jubilant celebrations.
Though Bush has set a goal of reaching an Israeli-Palestinian deal before the end of his term in January, he did not mention the ongoing negotiations or how to resolve the thorniest disputes.
Bin Laden said Western leaders were insincere in their expressed desire for Israeli-Palestinian peace and failed to criticize Israel.
“Peace talks that started 60 years ago are just meant to deceive the idiots,” said bin Laden. “After all the destruction and the killings ... your leaders talk about principles. This is unbearable.”
The terrorist leader mentioned former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who he said ordered a Jewish militia to attack the Arab village of Deir Yassin in 1948. The attack during Israel’s push for statehood killed more than 100 Arabs and forced the rest of the village to flee.
“Instead of punishing him (Begin) over his crimes ... he was awarded a Nobel prize,” said bin Laden.
Begin won the Nobel peace prize for negotiating a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979, Israel’s first with an Arab nation. The Israeli leader shared the prize with former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who was Begin’s negotiating partner. Israel has only signed one other peace treaty with an Arab nation, Jordan.
“We will continue our struggle against the Israelis and their allies,” said bin Laden. “We are not going to give up an inch of the land of Palestine.”
Bin Laden’s message Friday followed an audiotape released in March in which he lashed out at Palestinian peace negotiations with Israel.
The March audiotape 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. Israel has been battling Hamas in Gaza since the Islamic militant group took control of the strip last June from followers of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Comment:
Bin Laden really should think about going into stand-up comedy.
The man always makes me laugh. The funniest thing is that he is not even trying to be funny.
Bin Laden styles himself as a military commander. Yet he says things like this.
The terrorist leader mentioned former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who he said ordered a Jewish militia to attack the Arab village of Deir Yassin in 1948. The attack during Israel’s push for statehood killed more than 100 Arabs and forced the rest of the village to flee.
It is really too much. While trying to defend terrorism (the unrestricted warfare against unarmed civilians) he wants to betray an act of war as a crime. As a self proclaimed ‘military commander’ he should know that:
1.) The most efficient way to end any war! Is to destroy the enemies ability to wage war against you. To include denying (cutting off) an enemies source of supply, and support.
As a commander, I have a responsibility to attack the enemy wherever they may be. If an enemy force is using a village to conduct their operations against my troops, I am going to do whatever I can to drive them out of that village. Thus denying them the supplies, support, and shelter that, that village is providing to my enemy.
2.) As a commander: My first duty is to the life, and welfare of the people under my command.
As for Deir Yassin:
The attack on the village of Deir Yassin was a regrettable act of war. It was believed that the village was being used to spot artillery fire being directed against Israeli forces. The attack itself, was deemed necessary to break the Arab siege of Jerusalem. Since the village was be used as a part of the blockade. (The aftermath never should have happened, and if the Israelis had been allowed to properly train their soldiers, it never would have happened.)
As for the alleged atrocities: As late as 1998, surviving villagers claim that the atrocities never happened.
In an article dated April 2, 1998, The Jerusalem Post interviewed Abu Mahmud, a resident of Dir Yassin in 1948. In the interview Abu Mahmud stated: "... the villagers protested against the atrocity claims: We said, "There was no rape." [Khalidi] said, "We have to say this, so the Arab armies will come to liberate Palestine from the Jews..."
(Khalidi was a prominent Palestinian Arab leader who pushed the editor of the Palestine Broadcasting Service's Arabic news in 1948, Hazem Nusseibeh, to make the most use of alleged atrocities in Dir Yassin.) (Wikipedia)
According to Paul Holmes, a reporter for the Middle East Times, reported on April 20, 1998: Gives this account from Mohammed Radwan who fought in the battle:
"I know when I speak that God is up there and God knows the truth and God will not forgive the liars," said Radwan, who puts the number of villagers killed at 93, listed in his own handwriting. "There were no rapes. It's all lies. There were no pregnant women who were slit open. It was propaganda that... Arabs put out so Arab armies would invade," he said. "They ended up expelling people from all of Palestine on the rumor of Deir Yassin."
Despite all of this, there is no evidence to even suggest that Begin had any involvement in the planning of the attack. In fact, is it widely accepted that he was not involved in the battle at all.