Participants in an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference are circulating a final communiqué condemning terrorism and voicing readiness to fight the problem under UN auspices, while also criticizing the behavior of Israeli occupation forces in Palestine.
However, the statement has not yet been officially released.
Al Jazeera satellite channel, citing a copy of the final communiqué, said those present condemned as "brutal" the airborne suicide attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, and expressed readiness to fight in an anti-terrorism war provided it was waged under the UN banner.
However, the 57-member organization said it wanted terrorism to be accurately defined at a UN conference that would be held for this purpose.
Furthermore, no more Muslim or Arab countries should be attacked, according to Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani, who spoke at a press conference broadcast by Al Jazeera.
The participants said they wanted a clear distinction to be made between terrorism on the one hand, and national struggles against occupation on the other.
The latter point was made in reference to the Palestinians and Lebanon, who the OIC said were fighting against Israeli occupation troops.
Those present warned Israel against continuing with its “brutal practices against the Palestinians.”
The Islamic countries have showed concern over what they called attempts to link the Islamic faith to terrorism, and anti-Muslim acts in the US and worldwide.
The Qatari minister further said that the OIC was worried by civilian casualties in the current US war against Afghanistan, and supported a call by the conference’s president, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, to set up a fund to aid the Afghan people.
Meanwhile, the OIC demanded that the US provide “solid evidence” linking suspected terrorists to the attacks on the US.
Thani said that so far, Washington had provided no “material evidence” to substantiate its accusations – Albawaba.com
