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| Terror Networks |
| Jamaa al-Islamiya urges Al-Qaeda to adopt US truce |
| 2009-01-24 |
| (AKI) - The Egyptian arm of militant Islamist group, Jamaa al-Islamiya, which in recent years has rejected violence, has asked the Al-Qaeda terror network for a 120-day truce to evaluate the policies of the new US president Barack Obama. The Islamist movement, considered a terror organisation by the European Union, the United States and Egypt, was one of the largest jihadist organisations in the Arab world and conducted several terror attacks until it called a ceasefire after the massacre of 62 foreign tourists at Luxor in 1997. The armed group has now launched an appeal to Al-Qaeda leaders to mark Obama's inauguration in a bid to build a new relationship with the US. "We were not the ones who initiated war, and we have only fought for our own self-defence," says the militant group on the Islamic website, Isam Darbala. "In the next four months, we expect Obama to adopt a fair position. We welcome peace if it is based on respect for Islamic identity and on the rights of our people to live independently under our doctrine and Sharia (law) in the common interest of the Americans and the whole world to avoid the clash of civilisations." The appeal is directed to Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and his top lieutenant Ayman al-Zarwahiri. "This is an important occasion and for this we direct all the Al-Qaeda leaders who are linked to them ideologically or to internal members of the group and in particular, Bin Laden and Zawahiri," the group says in its internet message. "That is something new and (the fact) that Obama spoke about the Islamic world in his first speech indicates that he is admitting it is necessary to follow a different course." |
| Posted by:Fred |