May 18 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has urged Muslims to break the Israeli-led blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, and fight Arab governments that deal with the Jewish state, according to websites. More than 50 messages have been broadcast by bin Laden, his second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri and their allies since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. Following is a chronology of major statements attributed to bin Laden in the last two years. June 30, 2006 - Bin Laden in an audiotape praises the late al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as a "lion of jihad". July 1 - Bin Laden warns Iraq's Shi'ite majority of retaliation for attacks on Sunni Arabs and says his group will fight the United States anywhere in the world. July 6 - A year on from bombings in London which killed 52 people, al Qaeda issues a video with comments from Zawahri, bin Laden and one bomber. Sept. 7, 2007 - Bin Laden appears in his first videotape for nearly three years, to mark the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. In a message to the American people, bin Laden says the United States is vulnerable despite its economic and military power. Nov. 29 - Bin Laden urges European countries in an audiotape to end their alliance with U.S. forces in the Afghan conflict. March 19, 2008 - Bin Laden threatens the European Union in an audio recording with grave punishment over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. March 20, 2008 - Bin Laden urges Muslims to keep up the struggle against U.S. forces in Iraq as a path to "liberating Palestine". May 16, 2008 - Bin Laden, in a new audio tape, urges the fight against Israel to continue and says the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at the heart of the Muslim battle with the West. The speech was addressed to "Western peoples". May 18, 2008 - Bin Laden urges Muslims to break the Israeli-led blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, and fight Arab governments that deal with the Jewish state in an audio tape posted on the Internet.
Palestinian children, standing under posters of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, take part in a Nakba rally in al-Arroub refugee camp near the West Bank city of Hebron May 18, 2008. ...
