hotair

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.

__________________
So long, and thanks for all of the fish!!!

Jonesy

I'm not sure 1 bias cancels out another.

The_Heretic

Usama never gave a shit about Palestinians and hasn't done anything [good or bad] about it. He's only using it as a recruitment poster, but so far no one's found that Palestinians are drawn to al-Qaeda.

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"They're all cattle just markin' time in the slaughterhouse line." -The Heretic, Quill-Fu Theater: Enter The Needle

Jonesy

There must be a mutually beneficial arrangement between Israel and Palestine. I'm not surprised humans can't figure it out, considering they can't even figure out how to deal with crazy raspberry ants. It's always kill kill kill.

The killers will all go extinct. Plants are easier to catch than animals.

The_Heretic

The Israeli government hardliners want the rest of Palestine. Until those nuts are dealt with [preferably by arrest and trial for human rights violations] there won't be any Palestinian state.

__________________
"They're all cattle just markin' time in the slaughterhouse line." -The Heretic, Quill-Fu Theater: Enter The Needle

hotair

The plague of unintended consequences.

As it all too often happens, when people set out to try to prove one thing, only end up hurting their cause more. In an effort to counter Israeli claims about Arabs choosing to flee Israel during the 1948 war, the Research and Documentation Center of the Bir Zeit University conducted a in-depth, and very comprehensive historical study that they call the “Destroyed Palestinian Villages Documentation Project.”

First: I should point out that Bir Zeit is recognized world wide as a prominent Arab University. The original intent of this project was to provide ammunition to be used against the Israeli claims concerning the plight of the “Palestinian Refugees” who fled Israel during the 1948 war. The results of this study have been published back around 1987 (I believe) in a multi-volume series, commonly referred to as the “Destroyed Arab Villages Series”

The legend of Deir Yassin was investigated rather thoroughly for this study. In essence, the study basically concluded that the ‘massacre’ of Deir Yassin is virtually pure mythology. The battle was so heavily promoted for propaganda purposes (by both sides) that it is impossible to support any claim that any actual ‘massacre’ ever occurred there.

Eye witness accounts from the time of the attack, are diametrically opposed to eye witness accounts of the survivors interviewed for this study nearly forty years later. There where reports (at the time) of women being murdered, and the modern accounts (from the Arab survivors) tell us that these were actually men dressed in women’s clothing, trying to evade capture.

The Irgun commander claimed (at the time) that some 254 Arabs were killed in the battle. Yet the study could only list 107 people killed, with 12 wounded. The Irgun commander claimed (at the time) that his casualties were ‘minimum’ yet it is widely accepted today that the Israelis lost more than forty percent of their force in the attack. Forty percent casualties is far from ‘minimum’ in any book.

It was reported (at the time) that the village was neutral. Yet it is known today, that the Jordanian Arab Legion was using the village as a forward observation post for spotting artillery. It is also known today that units of Iraqi soldiers were using the village for conducting military ground operations against the Israeli attempts to relieve the siege of Jerusalem.

There are many Arab survivors who remember a truck fitted with a ‘loud speaker’ system driving around the village, before the attack started, warning people (in Arabic) to leave the area, because the attack was coming. While there are many more who claim that they never heard any such message, nor ever saw any such truck. Some Israelis claim that this truck never made it to the village at all, because it got stuck in a ditch. Yet a substantial number of villagers were able to safely evacuate the village before the battle started, because of this truck. (Or so they claim!)

The nature of politics being what it is. There was some extreme antagonism between the Haganah (Palmach), and the Irgun. This rivalry was very bitter at times, with wannabe politicians jockeying for future political offices. It is widely accepted today, that this rivalry is in fact the source of the original claims of a massacre at Deir Yassin. (The Haganah being the foundation of the current Labor Party, and the Irgun being the foundation of the current Likud Party in Israel today.)

One of the only details that everyone is able to agree on, seems to be the intense nature of the house to house fighting. With the only other major detail that the principals have been able to agree on. Concerns the propaganda value of the battle. The Arabs exaggerated the death toll in an effort to shame other Arabs into fighting against the Israelis. While the Israelis propagandized the battle to scare civilians out of combat zones, in an effort to reduce civilian casualties.


Menachem Begin writes:
The enemy propaganda was designed to besmirch our name. In the result it helped us. Panic overwhelmed the Arabs of Eretz Israel. Kolonia village, which had previously repulsed every attack of the Haganah, was evacuated overnight and fell without further fighting. Beit-Iksa was also evacuated. These two places overlooked the main road; and their fall, together with the capture of al-Qastal by the Haganah, made it possible to keep open the road to Jerusalem. In the rest of the country, too, the Arabs began to flee in terror, even before they clashed with Jewish forces. Not what happened at Dir Yassin, but what was invented about Dir Yassin, helped to carve the way to our decisive victories on the battlefield. The legend of Dir Yassin helped us in particular in the saving of Tiberias and the conquest of Haifa.".

Today, many historians credit Israel’s victory in the 1948 war to the Arab propaganda campaign. The Bir Zeit study seems to agree with the conclusion that the events at Deir Yassin were central to Israel’s eventual victory in 1948: ‘Thanks to Deir Yassin, they won the war.’

It is ironic that a propaganda campaign intended to shame Arabs into attacking Israel, should be the very thing that made Israel’s victory possible.

I find it extremely humorous that Bin Laden should sight this very same myth to justify his advocation of the mass murder of Israeli, and American civilians.

I will repeat myself!!! Bin Laden missed his calling. He should be a stand-up comic. He is really good at it.

__________________
So long, and thanks for all of the fish!!!

Jonesy

Couldn't we do like a two-state deal where the U.S. gives money to both states, provided peace remains intact?

The_Heretic

The quintassential roadblock to that is the idea of Palestinians having their own country and right of self determination.

There's too many bigoted extremists who just can't stomach anything short of the total abolishment of Palestine from the face of the Earth.

__________________
"They're all cattle just markin' time in the slaughterhouse line." -The Heretic, Quill-Fu Theater: Enter The Needle

BillCosby

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

hotair

It would seem that I am not entirely alone on this.

Though the "Palestinians" do seem to be taking Bin Laden a little more seriously than I do.


Palestinians cool to Osama bin Laden
Message of support from al-Qaida leader draws little enthusiasm

updated 3:55 p.m. CT, Mon., May. 19, 2008
RAMALLAH, West Bank - In his latest message, Osama bin Laden portrays himself as the only true defender of the Palestinians. But the Palestinians, even the Islamic militants of Hamas, didn't seem too enthusiastic Monday over the bear hug from the fugitive al-Qaida leader.

The moderate Palestinian government in the West Bank fears its quest for independence could be sullied by perceived links to terrorism. Even the rival Hamas regime in Gaza, labeled a terrorist group by the U.S. and Israel, sees al-Qaida as too extreme.

"Al-Qaida and bin Laden have caused huge damage to the image of Muslims and Arabs all over the world, and with his frequent statements about the Palestinians he just damages our image," said Nimr Hamad, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Palestinians have a "deep interest in convincing the Western world of the justice of our national cause," Hamad said. If the Palestinians are seen as "on bin Laden's side, we will definitely lose."

Bin Laden's speech posted Sunday
Bin Laden's 22-minute speech, posted on an Islamic militant Web site late Sunday, criticized Arab states for not waging war against Israel.

"Those (Arab) kings and leaders sacrificed Palestine and Al-Aqsa to keep their crowns," bin Laden said, referring to the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, one of Islam's holiest sites.

Israel is weak, he charged, but the Arabs have not fought "even a single serious war to get Palestine back."

He even ridiculed the leader of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which fought Israel's military to a bloody draw in 2006. Bin Laden said Hezbollah didn't do enough and shouldn't have allowed the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, which he said was "to protect the Jews."

This stuff is great!

Letterman should hire this guy, his ratings would go through the roof!

He attacked Arab leaders interested in negotiating with Israel: "They have decided that peace with the Zionists is their strategic option, so damn their decision." That would include Abbas, who is holding peace talks with the Israeli government.

Bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, regularly level verbal blasts at Arab leaders in recordings sent from their hideout, believed to be on the wild Afghan-Pakistani frontier. But recent messages have increasingly focused on the Palestinians, perhaps in an attempt to appeal to a broad Muslim audience, for whom the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is an important issue.

In Sunday's recording, bin Laden mentioned the blockade of Gaza, which was imposed by Israel and Egypt last June after Hamas fighters seized control of the coastal strip. Israel has tightened sanctions in recent months trying to pressure Gazans to halt daily rocket fire at Israeli towns, causing widespread shortages of fuel and basic goods in Gaza.

Bin Laden urges Egypt to help
Bin Laden urged militants in Egypt to help Gaza: "They are the only ones close to its borders and they must work on breaking this blockade." Egypt has a short border with Gaza, including a key crossing.

But Hamas militants seemed uneasy about bin Laden's support.

Like al-Qaida, Hamas belongs to the Sunni stream of Islam, and the two share a fundamentalist interpretation of their religion and open antipathy toward Israel and the West. As an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas — like al-Qaida — holds dreams of pan-Islamic unity, though mixed with Palestinian nationalism.

But the two groups differ in key areas. Hamas does not seek to subvert secular Arab regimes as al-Qaida does, and tries instead to work within the international system.

Hamas officials tried to distance themselves from bin Laden while not openly criticizing him.

Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Hamas would like to see Western influence in the Middle East eradicated. But he cited "a difference in method" between the two groups and said Hamas was focused on the fight with Israel.

"We are with all efforts against the foreign occupation in the area, but we confirm that Hamas' work has always been in Palestinian lands," Abu Zuhri said.

Ayman Taha, another Hamas spokesman, said the movement wants the blockade on Gaza's border with Egypt broken by nonviolent means, saying Hamas wants nothing to "harm our relationship with Egypt."

Asked if bin Laden's call to break the blockade might lead to violence, Taha said, "It could be — but I don't want to talk about it anymore."

Hamas blew up border wall
Last January, Hamas blew up the border wall with Egypt, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to cross. The border stayed open for nearly two weeks.

Both Israel and Abbas' government allege that al-Qaida is active in Gaza, and some small Palestinian militant groups have claimed ties to the terrorist network. But it is unclear whether any real links exist. Hamas denies there is an al-Qaida presence in the territory.

While there have been pockets of support for bin Laden in the Palestinian territories — the government suppressed small celebrations after the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. — he has never enjoyed the widespread popularity of other anti-Western Arab leaders, such as Saddam Hussein.

Hani al-Masri, a Palestinian analyst in the West Bank, said bin Laden's statements "don't serve the Palestinians in any way."

"Ben Laden is perceived in the world as a terrorist, and any connection to the Palestinians will harm the Palestinians," he said.

But, al-Masri added, if peace talks continue to struggle and produce no real change, Abbas' government could lose support and Palestinians might be more open to al-Qaida's violent ideology.

"If bin Laden and al-Qaida carry out some attacks in Israel, he might gain some popularity here if there is no progress in the peace process," he said.





Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

__________________
So long, and thanks for all of the fish!!!