Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri said in a new video aired on Wednesday that only jihad (holy war), not elections, can bring about the liberation of the occupied Palestinian territory.
“Any road other than jihad will only lead to loss,” Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man said in the video broadcast on al-Jazeera television.
“Those trying to liberate the land of Islam through elections based on secular constitutions or on decisions to surrender Palestine to the Jews will not liberate a grain of sand of Palestine.”
On the contrary, “their attempts will lead to choking jihad and besieging the mujahedin”, said Zawahiri, wearing his trademark turban and beard.
It was not immediately clear when the videotape was recorded, and its authenticity could not be independently confirmed.
However, it was released against the backdrop of escalating factional fighting in the Palestinian territories following a call by moderate Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas for new elections.
Abbas said in an address on Saturday that new elections were the only way to end the bitter power struggle between his Fatah movement and the ruling Islamist movement, Hamas.
But Zawahiri also slammed Hamas, without naming it, for recognising Abbas and taking part in elections on the basis of a secular constitution.
Hamas — taking part in elections for the first time in January — scored a shock victory over Fatah and took power in March, but its government is boycotted by Israel and the West.
The turbaned Zawahiri frequently speaks for al-Qaeda in video or audiotapes, some posted on the internet and others aired by Qatar-based al-Jazeera.
In a video in late September, he lashed out at both Pope Benedict XVI and United States President George Bush. In a previous video marking the fifth anniversary of the September 11 2001 attacks on the US, Zawahiri warned that the Gulf and Israel would be the next targets of al-Qaeda.
The Egyptian-born Zawahiri is regarded as the ideological powerhouse behind the terror group and carries a $25-million US bounty for information leading to his arrest or death. — AFP