Zawahiri urges Hamas to keep fighting Israel

Speaking in video footage broadcast Saturday on the Arabic television channel Al-Jazeera, Zawahiri described the agreements as "surrender accords" and called on Hamas, victors in the January 25 Palestinian election, "to continue the armed struggle."

Zawahiri also called on Muslims to boycott Western countries that have "insulted the Prophet Mohammed" by printing cartoons depicting him.

Osama bin Laden's lieutenant and chief ideologue of the al-Qaeda terror network, the Egyptian Zawahiri mentioned specifically the 1993 Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, as well as the current international "roadmap" peace plan.

"The surrender accords signed by the lay members of the Palestinian Authority must not be recognised. Your only alternative is to pursue the armed struggle until the liberation of Palestine and the building of an Islamic state," he told Hamas.

Zawahiri called on the Islamist movement not to take up their seats in the parliament, the Palestinian Legislative Council, "with lay people who have sold out Palestine."