Qaeda's Zawahri says Palestinian elections futile

DUBAI, Dec 20 (Reuters) Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri said in a video tape aired today that Palestinian elections would not free Palestinian land and would deal a blow to holy war against Israeli occupation.

''Those who are trying to free Islamic land through elections that are based on secular constitutions ... will not free a grain of Palestinian sand, but will choke jihad,'' he said in the tape broadcast by Al Jazeera television.

REUTERS PB HT1412