DOHA (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Representatives of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims set up a ministerial panel on Monday to urge the United States and the European Union to press Israel to end its attacks on the Palestinians and revive Middle East peacemaking.
At the end of an emergency one-day meeting in Qatar, foreign ministers from the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) pledged support for the embattled Palestinian Authority, which is under nearly two weeks of fierce Israeli attacks in retaliation for Palestinian Resistance bombings.
``The OIC calls on the international community...especially the United States, Russia and the EU to immediately intervene to stop the Israeli aggression,'' the ministers said in a statement.
The ministers renewed a call for international protection for the Palestinians -- rejected by the United States and Israel -- and demanded an ``immediate halt to Israeli aggression and plots to undermine the Palestinian Authority by targeting its symbols, and consider these actions as terrorism.''
The statement said the panel, led by Qatar, comprised the foreign ministers of Qatar, Syria, Morocco, Oman, Malaysia and Mali. It will contact the United States, other members of the U.N. Security Council and the EU and tell them Israeli actions threatened to ``destabilize the Middle East as a whole.''
It did not say when the panel would start its work.
In Brussels, a statement issued earlier on Monday by EU foreign ministers joined Washington in branding Palestinian militant Muslim groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad as ``terrorist'' and demanding Palestinian President Yasser Arafat dismantle them.
The two groups are blamed for a spate of Resistance attacks that have killed 29 Israelis in the last 11 days.
In a statement addressed to the meeting, Hamas appealed for world Islamic support and said it had no choice but to continue attacks against Israel. ``The enemy will not recognize our people's right in their land unless forced to do so,'' it said.
U.S. SHIFT ON MIDDLE EAST
``It is very important that the Muslim world moves toward the United States specifically because there is a big shift in the American position during the past ten days and no one should ignore that,'' Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told reporters.
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, OIC's current head, said he regretted the change in the U.S. position that appeared to put the onus on Arafat for the recent escalation in the violence.
``We must renew the optimism that prevailed after the positive American positions, which have regretfully evaporated due to the dangerous developments witnessed in the Palestinian territories,'' Sheikh Hamad said.
The emir and other delegates have welcomed earlier remarks by President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell supporting the creation of a Palestinian state.
Arafat called for the summit last week after Israel launched its fiercest air attacks since the start of the 14-month Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, but was unable to attend due to the Israeli actions.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, who visited Israel and Palestinian-ruled areas last week in a failed bid for a truce, blamed Arafat's absence at the talks on Israel.
``The obstacles placed against President Arafat's participation at this meeting are part of...Israeli aggression against not only the Palestinian people, but also international legitimacy,'' Maher said.