Al-Qaeda's Zawahiri Urges Gaza Palestinians To Attack Israel
Wednesday June 4th, 2008 / 23h12
DUBAI (AFP)--Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri urges Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip to escalate attacks on Israel and criticizes Egypt's closure of the crossing point into Gaza, in an Internet audio message posted Wednesday. "Do not give up...Increase your martyrdom attacks, the number of rockets you launch (on southern Israel) and your ambushes. There is no other solution," Zawahiri said in a message posted on an Islamist Web site for the anniversary of the June 5, 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Gaza has been subjected to an Israeli blockade since the Islamist Hamas movement seized power in the coastal strip last June. "To those who try to make you despair, tell them ... America is being defeated by our brothers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why should we despair?" Zawahiri said in the message titled "on the occasion of the setback." "Setback" is used by some Arabs to refer to the defeat of the army of Egypt, Jordan and Syria by Israel, which led to Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the Golan Heights in Syria and Egypt's Sinai. The Sinai , was returned to Egypt under the Camp David accords of 1978. Egyptian-born Zawahiri slammed the Egyptian authorities for blocking the Rafah crossing point, the only gateway for Gaza besides crossings with Israel. He accused the Egyptian government of aiding Israel by besieging the Palestinians. "I say to my brothers in Gaza, those who are putting you under siege are traitors, starting from the soldier in the central security forces who is guarding the treason fence to (Egyptian President) Hosni Mubarak," he said. "It is your right to enter Egypt whenever you wish, and to destroy treason fences whenever you want," he said. In January, Gaza militants blew open large sections of the border fence, sending hundreds of thousands of Palestinians pouring into Sinai to stock up on basic goods before it was resealed a few days later. "I say to my Muslim brothers in Sinai, help your brothers in Gaza and take part in their fight. If they start bringing down the fence of treason, give them a hand," he said. "This shameful fence deprives our people in Gaza from food and medicine, while it opens welcoming 50,000 Israeli tourist over Passover to practice immoralities in Sinai," he said. -Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5500
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