November 26, 2001	Monday	Ramazan 10, 1422

CAIRO, Nov 25: Arab intellectuals headed here Sunday for a conference aimed at helping to avert a widely-feared “clash of civilizations” between the West and Islam over the September 11 terror attacks in the United States.

The conference starting Monday at the Cairo-based Arab League follows calls by leaders in Washington, London, the United Nations in New York, Tehran, Cairo, and other capitals to work for dialogue among civilizations.

The two-day conference is the first gathering organized by the Arab League to deal with problems between western and Islamic civilizations.

The gathering is the work of Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa, who has warned of attempts in the west to make scapegoats of Arabs and Muslims for the September 11 terror attacks that cost thousands of lives in the United States.

Under the title “The Dialogue of Civilizations: an Exchange and not a Clash,” more than 70 intellectuals will start work to counter negative Western attitudes toward Arabs and Muslims.

“We observed that there have been doubts about Arab citizens and some practices against the Arabs, and that is why we have convened this conference to ready ourselves against the propagation of theses which evoke a clash of civilizations,” Mussa declared at a press conference Saturday.

The conference is expected to adopt recommendations on the means of dealing with “attempts to distort Arab culture and Islamic civilisation”, Mussa said in Arabic.

These recommendations will be submitted to Arab heads of state at their next summit in March in Beirut, but “certain urgent recommendations will be applied immediately”, he added without further detail.

Since September 11, hate crimes have been reported against people of Middle Eastern appearance, while many Muslim and Arab Americans have complained of harassment.

The United States, Britain, France and other countries have been drafting or enacting tougher anti-terrorism laws and other regulations that critics say make it easier to violate the rights of Muslims and Arabs.

The United States has also issued tighter visa restrictions targeting Muslim men from 25 countries.

Mussa along with other leaders in both Arab and Western capitals were outraged by remarks in late September attributed to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that western civilization was “superior to Islam.”

Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salame, and Jordan’s Prince al-Hassan bin Talal will attend the conference, as well as a number of thinkers and analysts from various Arab countries.

Salame has already arrived in Cairo while the Jordanian prince and most of the others were expected to arrive here late Sunday, league officials said.

Ten days after the September 11 attacks, Mussa warned that Arabs and Muslims were being persecuted and warned of a “clash of civilisations.”

“The new world order, or some of its leaders at least, has gone looking for an enemy to target,” Mussa said in a speech distributed by the League.

The United States has singled out Osama bin Laden as the prime suspect behind the September attacks, while Arab leaders have warned the US against jumping to conclusions in apportioning blame.

Mussa warned that mismanagement of the crisis provoked by the September attacks could unleash disaster.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned during a visit to Gaza City last month that bin Laden, who issues videotapes broadcast on Arab television, hopes to widen an existing “gulf of misunderstanding” between east and West.

In a recent broadcast by Qatari-based Al-Jazeera television, bin Laden said Muslims who support US President George W. Bush in his campaign against Afghanistan have “renounced their religion.”—AFP