Kuala Lumpur, Apr 21: The world's Islamic nations will press at an emergency meeting here tomorrow for international support against Washington's backing for Israel, Malaysia's foreign minister said. The meeting of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) was called after US President George W. Bush last week endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to keep some Arab land captured in the 1967 war.
The OIC, the world's biggest grouping of Muslim nations, would call for Israel to stick to the international roadmap for peace and for the early establishment of a Palestinian state, foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar said today.
"We want the international community to play a stronger and more meaningful role, to support the roadmap and to change the US attitude which openly supports Israel," he said in a television interview.
"For as long as they get the backing of their superpower ally, then Israel will continue to reign in the Middle East... It's as if they are the special people of the world, and are untouchable." Bush's backing for Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip but keep some Jewish settlements in the West Bank triggered anger in the Arab world and led Malaysia, the current chair of the OIC, to call tomorrow's meeting at the request of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
A declaration after the talks would press for the international community to "take positive steps that bring nearer to realisation the dream of the Palestinian people for a state of their own," Syed Hamid said.
Bureau Report