17 September 2004	Friday	01 Shaban 1425

BERLIN, Sept 16: Organizers of a Muslim conference on resisting "American and Zionist terror" pledged on Thursday to press ahead with the meeting as Germany sought to stop it and a Jewish group said it would draw militants from across the Middle East.

German Interior Minister Otto Schily said on Wednesday he viewed the "Arab Islamic Congress", planned for Oct 1-3 in Berlin, as a security threat and would try to prevent it. But organizers said they would push on with the event, dedicated to supporting Iraqi and Palestinian resistance against the United States and Israel.

Spokesman Gabriel Daher denied the event was a platform for violence. "There is no basis for that ... The authorities know we are against extremism, violence and terror," he said.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a Jewish human rights organization, said it had information that Middle Eastern militants had obtained visas to enter southern countries in the European Union and travel to Germany for the congress, taking advantage of open borders within the EU.

"We know visas have been issued ... to people from Lebanon, Syria and the Gulf who are jihadists," said Shimon Samuels, director for international liaison at the centre. He did not reveal the source of his information.

Asked how many people were involved, he said: "The key figures are not many ... probably about 20 to 30 people." An interior ministry spokeswoman said Berlin city authorities were in contact with Mr Schily and the organisers, and police would decide next week whether to issue a formal ban.

A security source said: "You can imagine that we have a very watchful eye on this whole congress at the moment, including of course on the people organising it." On the Internet (http://www.anamoqawem.org/berlincall.htm), the organisers urge "resistance and intifada" in Iraq and Israel, and "the liberation of all the occupied territories and countries in struggle against the American-Zionist hegemony and occupation".

Samuels described the event in a letter to Schily this month as "a political platform for radical jihad and a market for potential European youth recruits to the ranks of terrorism". He said he was also worried about Arab League involvement in next month's Frankfurt Book Fair. -Reuters