OIC condemns terrorism and Israel as Tehran summit ends
OIC condemns terrorism and Israel as Tehran summit ends
TEHRAN (AFP): Moslem leaders condemned Israel yesterday as a "terrorist state," demanded the surrender of all occupied Arab land and defied a U.S. law banning oil and gas investment in Iran and Libya.
The 55 members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) were also due to end their three-day summit in Tehran later yesterday with a strong call for the need to combat terrorism.
The OIC calls for "the liberation of all occupied Arab land and for the restoration of the usurped rights of the Palestinian people," said a text of the Tehran Declaration obtained by AFP.
It also "condemns the expansionist policies and actions of Israel, such as the expansion and construction of Jewish settlements... and stresses the need for Israel to cease state terrorism."
The statement, which is set to be formally adopted before a closing speech by Iranian President Mohammed Khatami later yesterday, also rejects the 1996 Iran-Libya Sanctions Act -- dubbed the D'Amato law.
The Moslem countries "reject unilateralism and the implementation of extra-territorial laws, and call on all states to consider the so-called D'Amato law null and void."
The law, passed by the U.S. Congress, sanctions firms of all nationalities investing more than US$40 million in the oil or gas industries of either Iran or Libya.
Washington accuses both countries of sponsoring terrorism and of trying to obtain nuclear weapons, and has pushed for their total economic and political isolation.
The French firm Total, along with the Malaysian oil company Petronas and Gazprom of Russia, signed a two-billion-dollar contract in September to develop Iran's gas sector in defiance of the law.
Moslem leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to a code of conduct to fight terrorism approved at the OIC summit in Casablanca in 1994 and called for an international conference on terrorism under UN auspices.
The OIC states "strongly condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, while at the same time recognizing the right of self-determination of those peoples living under colonial or foreign domination, or under foreign occupation."
The issue of terrorism has been high on the agenda of the meeting following recent massacres in Algeria and the killing of 62 people by militant gunmen at a tourist site in Luxor, Egypt, last month.
The Luxor attack was condemned across the Moslem world, including by the Islamic republic of Iran which has been keen to stress the legitimacy of groups such as Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hizbollah which it says are fighting against occupation.
The OIC conference also approved 142 political, cultural and economic resolutions on issues affecting the Moslem world, which were prepared by OIC foreign ministers last week.
The resolutions deal with a host of conflicts in the Moslem world -- such as Afghanistan, Kashmir and Bosnia -- as well as social issues in Islamic countries.
The issue of women's rights has been pushed strongly by host nation Iran, and resolutions call for the respect of the "dignity and rights" of women to be respected.
The need for an Islamic common market has spearheaded the economic discussions and resolutions, which have also reiterated the need for Moslem countries to boost trade between themselves.
At the final session, leaders papered over differences between them on the issues affecting the Middle East peace process and Gulf security.
The OIC meeting has drawn more than 30 Moslem heads of state and prime ministers to Iran, making it the largest international event here since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The Jeddah-based OIC was set up in 1971 to foster Islamic unity, and represents more than 1.2 billion Moslems around the world.
Annan -- Page 16