Islamic conference: "Muslim blue helmets in Lebanon"

The Organization of Islamic Conference called an emergency meeting and spoke of the need for an "immediate ceasefire" and the presence of Islamic countries in future UN peace missions. The Lebanese premier said 900 people have been killed so far, and one million people displaced. The intervention of the Iranian president is eagerly anticipated.

Putrajaya (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Islamic countries have called for an end to Israeli attacks on Lebanon and asked to be included in any future peace missions under the UN banner. The unanimous appeal was made at an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) under way in Putrajaya – Malaysia – to discuss the Mid-East crisis.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, OIC secretary-general, said the 20 participating countries (out of a total of 57) "were in complete agreement about the necessity of an immediate truce and the withdrawal of Israeli troops to beyond the 1949 Blue Line". He added: "Many countries have expressed their availability to send troops for a peace operation under the UN banner."

Diplomats from OIC countries expressed the desire to see states like Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan contribute to a "Blue Helmet" force of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon.

In his address, the Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said Muslim nations had the moral and political obligation to assist Lebanon and Palestine: "Israel cannot be allowed to continue its aggression against these two countries with impunity."

Before the meeting started, the Pakistani Foreign Minister, Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, said: "We don't want a clash of civilizations, but all over the Muslim world a very negative feeling is arising in the streets."

In a video message sent to the summit, the Lebanese Premier, Fouad Siniora, drew attention to the latest death toll of three weeks of fighting: 900 killed, 3,000 injured and one million displaced people in Lebanon. Israeli victims amount to 56.

Participants at the extraordinary summit included the President of Indonesia, the most populated Muslim country in the world, the Turkish Premier and delegates from Pakistan, Egypt and Lebanon. Analysts have said however that the most eagerly awaited intervention at the Putrajaya meeting is that of the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who arrived shortly before deliberations started and who has not said anything yet.

Yesterday, Iran's supreme guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, launched an appeal, in a message read on public television, to "Muslims of all the world" to resist the "wild wolf of Zionism (Israel) and the aggressions of the great Satan (the United States)."

• MALAYSIA
• LEBANON
• ISRAEL
• Organization
• of
• Islamic
• Conference
• war
• un
• Muslims
• aid
• PEACE
• TRUCE