Osama bin Laden slammed Palestinian negotiations with Israel and urged holy war for the liberation of Palestine in a new audio tape.
The audio -- the second by bin Laden in as many days -- was the first time bin Laden spoke of the Palestinian question at length since the situation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip deteriorated when Israel imposed a siege in response to heavy rocket fire by Gaza militants.
He said that "Palestine cannot be retaken by negotiations and dialogue, but with fire and iron."
Bin Laden also called on Palestinians who are unable to fight in the "land of al-Quds" -- a Muslim reference to Jerusalem -- to join the al-Qaeda fight and the holy war, or jihad, in Iraq.
"The nearest field of jihad today to support our people in Palestine is the Iraqi field," said bin Laden in the approximately 11-minute tape, excerpts of which were first broadcast on Thursday by al-Jazeera television. The entire tape appeared yesterday on an Islamic militant Web site.
"We tell our brothers in Palestine who could not join the jihad in the land of al-Quds, to get rid of illusions of political parties and groups which are mired in trickery of the blasphemous democracy and to take their positions among the ranks of the mujahideen in Iraq," he said.
Such a Palestinian fight in Iraq should be "supported by all Muslims, specially from neighboring countries," bin Laden said.
The authenticity of the tape, which was broadcast with an old photograph showing bin Laden in a white turban and what appeared to be a camouflage jacket, could not be verified, but it was posted on a Web site commonly used by al-Qaeda.
As with bin Laden's earlier audiotape, posted late on Wednesday on the same militant Web site, there was no indication when exactly it was made. The two messages were bin Laden's first this year.
In the Thursday audiotape, bin Laden said the sufferings of the Palestinians in Gaza began when treacherous Arab leaders began supporting the US-hosted Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, last November, and the "Zionist entity."
"By their support, they are considered partners to this horrible crime," bin Laden said of Arab leaders who have backed the Mid dle East peace talks.
In Wednesday's five-minute recording, bin Laden accused Pope Benedict XVI of helping in a ``new Crusade'' against Islam.
Vatican spokesman, Reverend Federico Lombardi, said on Thursday that bin Laden's accusation that the pope had played a role in a worldwide campaign against Islam was "baseless."
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