DUBAI, April 23: Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is of the view that the western public share responsibility for their countries’ ‘war against Islam’, according to a tape attributed to him aired on Sunday.

“The war is a responsibility shared between the people and the governments. The war goes on and the people are renewing their allegiance to its rulers and masters,” he said in the tape aired on Al Jazeera television.

“They send their sons to armies to fight us and they continue their financial and moral support while our countries are burned and our houses are bombed and our people are killed,” he said.

Osama bin Laden said the West’s shunning of the Hamas-led Palestinian government showed it was waging a ‘crusader-Zionist war’ on Muslims.

He said the Darfur crisis and western efforts to isolate the Palestinian government since Hamas won January elections were part of this campaign. “Their rejection of Hamas affirms that it is a crusader-Zionist war against Muslims,” Osama said.

“The war is a responsibility shared between the people and the governments. The war goes on and the people are renewing their allegiance to its rulers and masters,” Osama said. “They send their sons to armies to fight us and they continue their financial and moral support while our countries are burned and our houses are bombed and our people are killed.”

He said western leaders had ignored his truce offers. “They do not want a truce unless it is from our side only ... they insist on continuing their Crusader campaign against our nation and to loot our wealth,” Osama said.

He urged militants to prepare for a long struggle in Darfur.

“I call on mujahideen and their supporters in Sudan... and the (Arabian) peninsula to prepare to wage a long-term war against the crusaders in western Sudan,” Osama said, accusing the West of seeking to divide Sudan.

Osama called for boycotting the US and European countries over the anti-Islam cartoons published by a Danish newspaper in September. “(Osama) bin Laden urged in his tape that solidarity for the Holy Prophet (PBUH)... should continue by widening the boycott to include the US and European nations that supported Denmark,” Al Jazeera said. “He also demanded that those who offended the Prophet (PBUH)... be hand over for trial to Al Qaeda,” it said.—Reuters