Islamic officials condemn Israeli raids against Palestine
Islamic countries today accused Israel of dragging the Middle East toward war and urged the United Nations Security Council to protect Palestinians by intervening in the West Bank.
They also called on the Security Council to approve ‘‘deterrent sanctions’’ against Israel.
Delegates at the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference being held in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur said in a written statement that they unanimously adopted the resolution.
The delegates paid tribute to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and condemned Israel’s weekend raids on his West Bank headquarters.
They called Israeli attacks on Palestinian territories ‘‘a violation of all international norms and laws and the culmination of state terrorism as practised by Israel’’.
The resolution was adopted at the first session of a three-day conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where foreign ministers and other representatives from Muslim countries are meeting to discuss terrorism.
Delegates urged the United States and Russia, as co-sponsors of the Middle East peace process, the UN Security Council and the European Union to press Israel to withdraw its troops from all occupied Arab and Palestinian territories.
Earlier today, the Palestinian representative to the conference disputed Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s suggestion that anyone carrying out attacks on civilians should be considered a terrorist.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Farouk Kaddoumi told reporters that Palestinian suicide bombers should not be condemned as terrorists because ‘‘we have to take into consideration the reasons behind somebody willing to lose his life’’.
The conference opened a day after Palestinian suicide bombings killed 15 Israelis, and Israeli troops expanded their invasion of the occupied West Bank.
Kaddoumi said Palestinian leaders could not stop the suicide bombings.
‘‘This is not a conventional war,’’ he told reporters. ‘‘This is a popular resistance. We cannot stop the people from doing whatever they want to do to defend themselves.’’
