Qaeda tells Obama conditional truce offer stands

Al-Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri said an offer the group made to the previous U.S. administration of a conditional truce is still on the table for President Barack Obama, an Islamist website said Monday.

"If Obama wants to (reach) an understanding then he should respond to Sheikh Osama (bin Laden's) two offers," Zawahri said in an interview with al-Qaeda's media arm As-sahab, said Monday.

"Obama is trying to sell illusions to the...weak," Zawahri said of Obama's campaign to ease tension with Muslims increased by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "He is trying to say do not hate us...but we will continue to kill you..."

Bin Laden said in 2006 "we do not mind offering a long-term truce based on just conditions that we will stand by...a truce which offers security and stability and the rebuilding of Iraq and Afghanistan which war has destroyed."

The United States dismissed the offer, saying it "does not negotiate with terrorists."

Israel off the map

Zawahri also said Israel should be wiped off the map, describing the Jewish state as a crime against Muslims, and accused Obama of conducting a policy on Israeli-Palestinian issues that was bound to end in failure for the Palestinians.

"Israel is a crime that should be removed," Zawahri said adding that Obama wanted a Palestinian state that would serve as "an extension of the CIA," said Zawahri.

Al-Qaeda leaders have often said that they would focus their holy war on Israel after the creation of an Islamic state in Iraq. Yet until now they have no recognizable presence in Israel, or in the Palestinian Territories.

(With Agencies)

Israel is a crime that should be removed

Ayman al-Zawahri