LONDON, March 20 Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden called on Palestinians to use "iron and fire" to end an Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip and liberate their country.

In an audiotape broadcast by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera satellite channel, bin Laden also urged Muslims to keep up the struggle against U.S. occupation forces in Iraq as a way of "liberating Palestine."

"My speech is about the Gaza siege and the way to retrieve it and the rest of Palestine from the hands of the Zionist enemy," bin Laden said. "Our enemies did not take it (Palestine) by negotiations and dialogue but with fire and iron. And this is the way to get it back," he added.

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