KHARTOUM, June 26: Foreign ministers of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference continued on Wednesday their debates on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how to brighten an image of Islam tarnished by the September 11 attacks.

The participants have “denounced terrorism,” Sudanese information minister Mahdi Ibrahim, head of Sudan’s delegation, told a press conference on the gathering’s second day.

“How can the Islamic nation be accused of terror, while it is a nation that aspires to dialogue?” Ibrahim asked reporters on Wednesday.

An alleged “unfair” campaign against Islam in the wake of the September 11 attacks and the Middle East crisis have topped the agenda of this three-day OIC conference in Khartoum, being held under the banner of “Solidarity and Dialogue”.

“It is the Islamic nation which is the target of terrorism. It has been bombed, pounded by planes, submitted to blockades, economic sanctions and then accused of terrorism,” Ibrahim said, citing “Palestine” as his main example.

The minister bristled at accusations from the international community that Khartoum is accused of terrorism. He fumed at the West’s tolerance for Israel’s repression of the 21-month Palestinian uprising or intifada.

“How can Israel be allowed to fire missiles not on a forest or desert, but at the center of a town... without being accused of terrorism,” he said.

Israeli behaviour is “the real terrorism practiced daily,” he said. In an allusion to suicide bombings, he said: “The Islamic nation is not terrorist even if certain individuals carry out acts to defend themselves.”

He described such violence a “reaction to the injustice they are submitted to.”

He demanded to know why the Islamic nation is “immediately branded terrorist when an isolated act is committed by a Muslim.”

Such “acts are committed by people belonging to other religions — Christian, Jewish or Confucianist, without the accusations having repercussions on their faiths,” he said.

“Islamic society is a moderate society, far removed from any extremism.”

He said Muslim countries, including Sudan, were considering “creating a satellite channel to transmit to the West the true tolerant image of Islam.

“We are a nation that believes in dialogue with the other, with all types of humans,” he said.

Ibrahim said most of the day’s discussions centered on the question of Palestine,” followed by the Indian-Pakistani dispute over Kashmir, the situation of the Philippines Muslim minority, as well as that of the Golan Heights and Shebaa Farms occupied by Israel. The participants also discussed Muslim Africa.

Wednesday’s session took place behind closed doors and is set to end Thursday night.

Sudanese television said the ministers were calling for all Muslim and Arab states to sever ties with Israel, and demanding the lifting of Iraq’s decade-old sanctions.

On Tuesday, Arab leaders had focused attention on US President George W. Bush’s speech on Middle East peace, which dominated the opening day of the Islamic ministerial meeting.

In a long-awaited speech, Bush effectively told the Palestinians on Monday they should oust their leader Yasser Arafat and others “compromised by terrorism”, before the establishment of any future Palestinian state.

Arab and Muslim leaders have opposed the demand.—AFP