CAIRO, Nov 11: Egypt’s First Lady Suzanne Mubarak on Sunday appealed for an independent Palestinian state and expressed fears of an anti-Muslim backlash from the US war on terror, at the opening of a summit of Arab women.

“It is women who pay the price of violence and terrorism,” the wife of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak declared in a keynote speech.

Arab first ladies from Morocco to the Gulf applauded Mubarak when she urged Arab women to speak out for “an independent Palestinian state and an end to violence in the occupied territories.

“Egyptian women are standing beside their Palestinian sisters in the legitimate struggle to recover their country,” Mubarak said.

Alluding to the US-led war against alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and his Taliban militia hosts in Afghanistan, she said: “We are living through a crucial moment.”

She added that the “we don’t know where the events we are witnessing these days are going to lead us.”

She also alluded to the fallout from the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, which the US government blames on bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network of Islamic militants.

“The world is today threatened by attempts at division and labelling, phenomena which raise worries and lead to artificial conflicts,” she said.

“The relationship between civilizations is based on rapprochement, cordiality and cooperation and not on conflicts and the exchange of suspicion,” Mubarak said.

The summit is due to end on Monday with the creation of the Arab Women’s Organization, which will be under the umbrella of the Cairo-based Arab League but enjoy an independent financial and administrative status.

The organization will have the task of coordinating the views of Arab women at international forums and of exchanging expertise on questions related to the condition of Arab women.—AFP