London terror conference vows to stop pullout

A World Muslim Brotherhood conference in London this week pledged to disrupt Sharon's planned withdrawal from Gaza "by all means necessary," a member of the UK-based extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, which helped plan the conference, told WND.

Members at the conference, which featured a popular Egyptian extremist cleric, and representatives of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and local Muslim groups, constructed a detailed outline to thwart Israel's evacuation of Gaza in 2005, and to stop Egypt from assuming security responsibilities in the Gaza Strip, the Muhajiroun member said

Speakers at the conference vowed open confrontation with any country that aids Israel in the withdrawal, and warned that Israel, Egypt and Jordan should brace for an onslaught of terror attacks.

"The Israelis think they are going to get away with moving all their settlements from Gaza to the West Bank, and stopping the Palestinians from getting a State of their own. But all of us are not going to let that happen," said the Al-Muhajiroun member.

"Egypt and Jordan are collaborating with the Zionists and have been bought out by the American government to do whatever Sharon says. They are not going to get away with this," he said.

He said the conference declared that groups in the Palestinian territories should "use all means at their disposal to make sure Sharon's plan can't happen."

The Muslim Brotherhood, aligned with the views of al-Qaida, is an umbrella organization founded in Egypt that encompasses various Islamic extremist factions, and maintains powerful branches in the Palestinian territories, Egypt, Jordan and Qatar. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are bound by the decisions of the Brotherhood.

London has long been a hotbed of Islamic extremism. Groups like Al-Muhajiroun operate openly, and have held public rallies, drawing thousands of British Muslims, at which speakers have chanted "Death to America!" and "Kill Bush!"

Al-Muhajiroun's worldwide leader, Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, who has been interviewed by WorldNetDaily and is based in London, is a member of the Brotherhood's European Islamic Law Council. He has previously hosted leaders of Hamas at his London headquarters, and is suspected of ties to al-Qaida.

Israeli security sources say British law enforcement authorities were aware of the conference and did not attempt to detain one of the main speakers, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a member of the Brotherhood's Shura council, who flew in to London's Heathrow airport this week from Qatar. Al-Qaradawi has been arrested many times in several Arab countries and is not allowed to enter Egypt.

The conference, which was videotaped and was held in a Muslim center that is also used as a mosque, reportedly featured signs on the walls that included "Bush is a Terrorist" and another with a Jewish star that had blood dripping from it.

Al-Muhajiroun also maintains a branch in New York that holds closed-door meetings and study sessions at a mosque in Jackson Heights, Queens.

The Queens branch youth leader, Abu Yousuf, a U.S. citizen who told WND he attended a "camp" in Sudan and takes computer courses at the City University of New York, speaks at universities throughout New York City at events usually sponsored by the Muslim Student Association.

Al-Muhajiroiun member Muhammed Junaid Babar, a naturalized citizen from Pakistan, was recently arrested by the FBI in New York for aiding in a plot to blow up discos, restaurants and train stations in London. Babar faces 30 years to life in prison under an agreement with federal prosecutors.

The plot was foiled in late March when British authorities arrested eight suspects and seized 1,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, which can be used to make explosives, from a storage locker near central London.