Al-Qaida's number two leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to fight on and not to accept agreements reached between the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and Israel. (Photo: Xinhua/AFP)

    CAIRO, March 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Al-Qaida's number two leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to fight on and not to accept agreements reached between the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and Israel.

    Speaking in a video footage broadcast Saturday on the Arabic television channel Al-Jazeera, al-Zawahri voiced support for Hamas and its refusal to recognize Israel.

    Hamas won a landslide victory in the Palestinian parliamentary election held in January, and has been given a mandate to form a new government.

    Al-Zawahri complained that the previous Palestinian leaderships had "sold Palestine" through peace agreements in Oslo and Madrid, the U.S.-backed road map peace plan, and other "surrender accords," and urged Hamas "to continue the armed struggle."

    In place of negotiations, al-Zawahri said, was "the path of prophets and messengers, which is ... jihad, until the soil will be liberated and the Islamic states rise again."

    Referring to the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad published by newspapers in many European countries, al-Zawahri called on Muslims to boycott those countries where the cartoons were printed.

    "They did it on purpose and they continue to do it without apologizing," he said. "We consider the publication of the caricatures to be part of a crusade against Muslims led by the United States," he said.

    Al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's deputy, has issued several videotapes in the past year. In his last video on Jan. 31, he threatened a new attack on the United States. Enditem