MIDDLE EAST:Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden called on Palestinians to use "iron and fire'" to end an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip and liberate their country. In an audiotape broadcast by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite channel yesterday, bin Laden also urged Muslims to keep up the struggle against US forces in Iraq as a way of "liberating Palestine".
"My speech is about the Gaza siege and the way to retrieve it and the rest of Palestine from the hands of the Zionist enemy," he said. "Our enemies did not take it [ Palestine] by negotiations and dialogue but with fire and iron. And this is the way to get it back."
The recording came one day after bin Laden issued an internet statement threatening the European Union with grave punishment for the publication of cartoons mocking Islam's prophet Muhammad. He warned Europe of a "severe" reaction to come, in a recording which condemns former British prime minister Tony Blair for his role in quashing a corruption investigation into a British arms deal, as well as cartoons seen as insulting to the Prophet Muhammad.
Ben Venzke, the head of IntelCentre, a US group that monitors militant messages, called the internet video a "clear threat against EU member countries and an indicator of a possible upcoming significant attack".
Bin Laden attacked King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, whom he described as the "crownless king in Riyadh", and said he could have ended the entire dispute over the cartoons because of his influence with European governments.
"The response will be what you see and not what you hear, and let our mothers bereave us if we do not make victorious our messenger of God," said the voice, which is believed to be bin Laden's. He described the cartoons as taking place in the framework of a "new crusade" against Islam, in which he said the pope has played a "large and lengthy role" .
The Vatican yesterday denounced bin Laden's accusation that the pope disrespected Islam and its prophet Muhammad. Spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said the accusation was "absolutely baseless."