UNITED NATIONS: An omnibus UN anti-terrorism treaty likely has been stalled for another year, this time amid festering disagreement between the United States and Islamic nations.

The UN “Comprehensive International Convention Against Terrorism” has been the subject of debate for more than two years. Barring dramatic changes in the Middle East, diplomats here say, it is unlikely to be finalized this year.

The latest twist in the treaty’s tortured birth came last week, when US President George W. Bush delivered his State of the Union address to Congress.

In his speech, Bush said three anti-Israeli organizations — Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hizbollah — are terrorist groups and should be spurned by governments sympathetic to the groups’ cause, lest they be tarred as state supporters of terrorism or perpetrators of state terrorism.

The 58-member Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) says all three groups are legitimate liberation movements fighting Israeli occupation in the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights — all Arab territories annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.

In the OIC’s view, Israeli violence in the occupied territories — including military intervention but also a policy of selective assassinations — constitutes state terrorism and should be singled out for condemnation in any new international treaty against terrorism.

Washington argues that Israeli military retaliations against Palestinians are acts of self-defence against suicide bombings. Bush said the groups pose as much of a threat to the United States as they do to its ally, Israel.

“The climate in the Middle East is not conducive towards the new treaty,” said Rohan Perera, chairman of the UN Ad Hoc Committee on Terrorism. “The time has come for delegates to be innovative and creative in exploring new approaches to find an acceptable compromise.”

The committee ended weeklong sessions inconclusively on Friday but is expected to give the treaty another shot when it meets again in October.

In his address, Bush also identified three countries — Iraq, Iran and North Korea — as potential targets of the US war against terrorism. All three have been accused of developing weapons of mass destruction — nuclear, biological and chemical arms — and of exporting terrorism.

The Permanent Mission of Iran to the United Nations dismissed the charges as irresponsible. “Not even a single piece of evidence has thus far been presented by the US trying Iran to terrorism and/or proving any efforts on its part to develop weapons of mass destruction,” it said in a statement.

Abdeloushed Belkziz, OIC secretary-general, said that “the recent unjustified statements and campaigns against the Islamic states (of Iran and Iraq) are likely to undermine the credibility of the international coalition against terrorism, weaken its cohesion and be counter-productive.”

“The OIC rejects any mixing up of issues and any levelling of accusations without proof of compelling evidence, particularly in the light of the negative positions vis-a-vis the grave Israeli escalation (of violence) and oppressive practices in Palestine,” he added.

The proposed UN pact — described as the mother of all anti-terrorism treaties — was expected to incorporate into a single document key elements from all 12 existing UN treaties against terrorism. —Dawn/The InterPress News Service.