CAIRO, Egypt -- Osama bin Laden vowed Friday to fight Israel for the liberation of the Palestinians, claiming their cause is at the heart of al-Qaida's holy war with the West.
Bin Laden's third statement this year was released to coincide with the Jewish state's 60th anniversary and came out as U.S. President George W. Bush was wrapping up his visit to Israel to celebrate the occasion.
"We will continue our struggle against the Israelis and their allies," bin Laden said in a 10-minute audio message posted on an Internet site used often by al-Qaida. "We are not going to give up an inch of the land of Palestine."
Al-Qaida is increasingly using the Israeli-Arab conflict in its media campaign to rally supporters. Israel has warned of growing al-Qaida activity in Palestinian territory, although the terror network is not believed to have taken a strong role there so far.
Bin Laden said the Palestinian cause is the most important factor driving al-Qaida's war with the West and claimed it was the motivation for the 19 Muslims, most of them Saudi Arabians, who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"To western countries... this speech is to understand the core reason of the war between our civilization and your civilization. I mean the Palestinian cause," he said at the end of his message.
"The Palestinian cause is the major issue for my (Islamic) nation. It was an important element in fuelling me from the beginning and the 19 others with a great motive to fight for those subjected to injustice and the oppressed," he said.
The authenticity of the message could not be verified, but the voice resembled the one in past bin Laden audio clips. While there was no indication of when the message was recorded, it referred to this month's Israeli 60th anniversary.
-- The Associated Press
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