Bin Laden Tape claims responsibility for attempted Christmas day Bombing and Warns Obama on Mideast Peace
By Robert Fragnito January 25, 2010Osama bin Laden has released a new tape aired on Aljazeera Sunday claiming responsibility for ordering the attempted Christmas Day bombin. Bin Laden warned US President Barak Obama of future attacks if he does not resolve the Palestinian situation.
"America will never dream of living in peace unless we live it in Palestine. It is unfair that you enjoy a safe life while our brothers in Gaza suffer greatly...Therefore, with God's will, our attacks on you will continue as long as you continue to support Israel," bin Laden said.
Bin Laden's statements come at time where the Obama administration is pressing forward by attempting to jump start the peace process with Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Although bin Laden's comments on the Palestinian situation are not new, what can be assessed from the tape is that Al-Qaeda is utilizing the peace process to justify potential future attacks. The tape also aimed to strike an emotional chord with Arabs and Muslims as a rallying point for supporting Al-Qaeda's jihad, but just as 9/11 failed to unite the Muslim world against the West, so will the argument for Gaza yield similar results.
Experts in the Arab media commented on the tape. Azzam Tamimi a political analyst on Hamas told Aljazeera, “I would say that al-Qaeda has not been able to set foot in many places in the Muslim world despite its rhetoric...In Palestine they failed miserably and that is why I understand this message as a return to the older strategy of waging war against America and the world order in the skies. It is very difficult to compete with an organisation like Hamas in Palestine."
Al-Qaeda is fully aware that the Obama administration focused on making big gains in the peace process in its first year, but so far even Obama has admitted that his efforts and that of his Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, were far too ambitious. Mitchell on Sunday met separately with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mitchell pledged US support for a “two state solution” during his meeting with Abbas.
As it stands, efforts by the Obama administration has not drawn Israel and the Palestinians to the negotiating table. For the Palestinians coming to the negotiating table will involve Israel ceasing settlement activity in the West Bank. Israel did place a ten month moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank, but the gesture was seen as insufficient by the Palestinian Authority to return to the negotiating table. Israel said that it will continue to make gestures to the Palestinian Authority to foster peace talks, but it will not give up what is views as its right to settle in the West Bank. As for Osama bin Laden, it is clear that Al-Qaeda will continue utilize issues that are important to Muslims to justify jihad.
Video Link to Osama Bin Laden's Message on Aljazeera
Robert Fragnito is an ASCF contributor and the President and Founder of the Middle East news blog MEMG: The Middle East Monitoring Group. Fragnito's blog focuses on aggregating news articles concerning geopolitical events in the Middle East.
