OIC Press Release

The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Abdelouahed Belkeziz, ernphasized that the struggle of the Palestinian people to gain its inalienable right to self determination and the establishment of its independent state with A1 Quds Al Sharif as capital is a legitimate struggle backed by international legitimacy. Mr. BELKEZIZ was referring in his respect to disturbing statements describing Palestinian resistance as terrorist action and recalling at the same time that many countries gained their independence through armed struggle and other means no one ever described their struggle as act of terrorism before the 11 of September.

the statement carne in Dr. BELKEZIZ 's address to the Foreign Ministers of the OIC Members State who are meeting at an extraordinary session. hosted by the Government of Malaysia on the issue of international terrorism currently taking place in Kuala Lumpur. The Secretary General called for all efforts and resources to be mobilized at international forums in order to dispel the description of "terrorism" and "terrorists" unjustly attributed to our brothers, the Palestinian fighters. He paid tribute to their extreme scarifies in defending their rights and protecting Islamic holy places in Palestine, and reaffirmed the need to denounce the state terrorism being officially practiced by Israel in the Palestinian territories through various terrorist means. Therefore the Israeli politicians should be held directly responsible for these terrorist acts.

In his reference to the repercussions of the events of the 11th of September in promoting hostility to, and fear of Islam, the Secretary General stressed the need to be fully alert to design insinuation, and preparations to strike a number of Islamic states so that these designs may not be given international legal justifications. In, this context, His Excellency underlined the need to convene an international conference on terrorism in order to draw up a balanced, international definition of terrorism so as not to leave it in the hands of the super powers to lay down a definition which serves their interests and jeopardizes the interests of others. The issue of fighting terrorism should be assigned to international bodies of the United Nations so that this world organization could regain the international role entrusted to it to maintain international security and peace.

In the conclusion of his speech, the OIC Secretary General appealed to the Member States, particularly those that have not done so, to sign the OIC Convention on Combating International Terrorism so that it can enter into force and enable us to prove to the world our seriousness and genuine interest in developing measures to combat international terrorism.

His Excellency Mr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia, opened the proceedings of the Extraordinary Session of, the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers On Terrorism, with the attendance of the Foreign Minister of Malaysia Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, Chairman of the Session, and a number of Ministers and representatives of Member States.

In his speech, Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad focused on the importance of defining the concept of terrorism, identifying the identity of the terrorists and the necessity of distinguishing between acts of terrorism and peoples struggle for independence. He called for examining the causes of terrorism in order to eliminate its motives, foremost among which are poverty, injustice and oppression. He added that the inability, of the Islamic countries to act in order to eradicate the afore-mentioned causes results in further frustration, anger and bitterness. We have, therefore, to remove the root causes and not just to hunt down frustrated individuals.

His Excellency Sheikh Hamd Bin Jassem Bin Jabr AI Thani, Foreign Minister of the State of Qatar and representative of the Chairman of the Ninth Islamic Summit Conference delivered a statement in which he stressed the necessity of doubling the efforts of Islamic States together with those of the international community to eliminate the phenomenon of terrorism and draw up an international definition thereof that specifies its meaning. He called for intensifying international efforts to bridge the social, economic and technological gap between rich and poor states. The Foreign Minister of Qatar also lauded the OIC Convention On Combating Terrorism which it provides, as he stresses, a reasonable framework for defining terrorism as well as the means to combat it.

The conference is expected to consider the elaboration of an Islamic position against the campaign targeting Islam and the accusations leveled against some Islamic states as an "axis of evil ", particularly Iraq and Iran.