Islamic ministers to meet on terrorism<\/p>\n
Agencies
\nKuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Ministers of Islamic nations meet here next week to discuss ways
\nof dispelling perceptions in the West that Muslims are chiefly
\nresponsible for global terror.<\/p>\n
The discussions by foreign ministers of the Organization of
\nIslamic Conference (OIC) will lead, ultimately, to a broader
\nconference by the United Nations.<\/p>\n
A key goal will be to seek a definition of what constitutes
\nterrorism and a terrorist.<\/p>\n
Ministers will also try to seek the root causes of militancy.<\/p>\n
"There are many extremists from other religions. From either
\nIsraeli Jews, Christians, Buddhists or Hindus," Malaysian Foreign
\nMinister Syed Hamid Albar told Malaysian television.<\/p>\n
Poverty, oppression, low literacy and socio-economic factors
\nwere the root causes of terrorism rather than religion, he said.<\/p>\n
But the subject likely to be uppermost in everyone's minds
\nwhen they meet on Monday is the crisis in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Several OIC delegates will be fresh from this week's Arab
\nSummit in Lebanon, where Saudi Arabia has been pushing its plan
\nfor peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.<\/p>\n
The crisis in the Middle East goes to the heart of the uneasy
\nrelationship with the world of terror.<\/p>\n
Syed Hamid said it was important not to link the Palestinian
\nstruggle for independence with terrorism.<\/p>\n
"It is the struggle to free the nation from Israeli military
\noccupation," he said. "The Palestinian saga is not considered
\nterrorism."<\/p>\n
Muslims make up 20 percent of the world's population.<\/p>\n
U.S. support for Israel has alienated many of them, not least
\nin Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
Suggestions that Washington may extend its anti-terror
\ncampaign to other Muslim nations such as Iraq and Iran are also
\nlikely to feature on the agenda.<\/p>\n
The United States has also branded OIC members Iraq and Iran
\nas part of an "axis of evil", along with North Korea.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Malaysia's prime minister on Thursday also set the
\ntone for the meeting saying that Washington should not escalate
\nthe war on terrorism to include military strikes on Iraq,
\npredicting it would only foster a terror backlash.<\/p>\n
In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press, Mahathir
\nMohamad said that tackling the root causes of terror -- among
\nthem the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- had been sidelined in
\nthe U.S. military campaign.<\/p>\n
He said that for peace to prevail, Iraq needed to show the
\nworld that it is not planning to attack its neighbors.<\/p>\n
"I think we should try and use the UN agencies again,"
\nMahathir said. "Eventually Iraq will have to come around to
\naccepting the need to satisfy the international community that
\nthey are not going to go to war against anybody and make use of
\nweapons of mass destruction."<\/p>\n
Mahathir noted that Israel is also armed with such fearsome
\nweapons "and it is not fair to single out Iraq alone."<\/p>\n
He added that the United States should not "spread the war to
\nother places."<\/p>\n
"That would only cause a great deal more anger and that will
\nactually become a new cause for terrorism," Mahathir said.<\/p>\n
The Malaysian prime minister then lashed out at Israel saying
\nthat it was a mistake that Yasser Arafat was prevented from
\nattending an Arab League summit in Beirut.<\/p>\n
"Not to give him the chance to speak his mind is not
\ncontributing anything to peace," Mahathir said. "Undermining
\nArafat is one of the reasons he is not able to control the
\nextremists among the Palestinians."<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/islamic-ministers-to-meet-on-terrorism-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}