KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia

Islamic nations denounced Israel's crackdown in the Palestinian territories as state terrorism on Monday and accused the Jewish state of dragging the Middle East toward all-out war.

Foreign Ministers from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), meeting in Malaysia to discuss the root causes of global terrorism as Israel sent fresh tanks to the West Bank, urged the U.N. to give Palestinians international protection.

"The Conference considered this assault a violation of all international norms and laws and culmination of state terrorism as practised by Israel," the ministers said in a statement issued shortly after the start of the three-day meeting.

"Israel's terrorist actions and aggressive practices, posing a threat to international peace and security, and dragging the region toward an all-out war necessitate immediate action by the United Nations Security Council," the statement added.

Earlier, Malaysia's prime minister and summit host, Mahathir Mohamad, branded both Palestinian suicide bombers and Israeli soldiers as terrorists and accused the United States of failing to exert restraint over Israel.

Ministers from several countries, both friends and foes of the United States, have criticized Washington for not doing enough to rein in Israel's hardline Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has declared "an uncompromising war" to end suicide bombings which he blames on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Ministers or their representatives from most of the OIC's 57 members -- who range from Albania in Europe to Indonesia in Asia, Guyana in South America and Mozambique in Africa -- attended.

A Palestinian delegate said many ministers pulled out at the last minute after a Libyan call for an emergency Arab Summit.

He said Arab leaders were unlikely to meet so soon after last week's Beirut summit, which endorsed the Saudi peace plan, but their foreign ministers could meet in Cairo later this week.

The conference praised Arafat and the Palestinians and paid tribute to their "valiant resistance" and Intifada uprising.

Palestinian delegation head Farouq Al-Kaddoumi said Israel's capture of his people's land fueled suicide bombings.

"The occupation is the highest and the worst kind of terrorism and (for) the human being, when he intends to lose his life and to sacrifice his life, there should be a reason," Al-Kaddoumi, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) political office, added. "The reason is state terrorism."


Iraq Urges Arabs to Use Oil Weapon Against Israel and US

BAGHDAD, Iraq

Iraq's ruling Baath party today called on Arab countries to use petrol as a "weapon" against Israel and the United States to ensure the liberation of Palestinian land.

"If just two Arab countries used the economic threat against a part of the world which only understands the language of its own interests, the Israeli army would immediately withdraw from autonomous areas", Saddam said.