Bin Laden: Palestinian cause fuels war
Updated: 2008-05-16 19:55
"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.
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