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Muslim scholars meet to define terrorism and agree: Israel to blame

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Friday, January 11, 2002

ABU DHABI Ñ Saudi Arabia, under pressure from the United States to cooperate in the war against terrorism, has defined Islamic holy war against Israel as legitimate self-defense.

The definition was formulated during a Saudi-sponsored seminar on terrorism attended by Muslim scholars from the kingdom and abroad. The seminar was held as part of a Saudi campaign to defend the kingdom and other Islamic states from charges that they have encouraged insurgencies in the West.

The Mecca seminar termed terrorism as "all acts of aggression unjustly committed by individuals, groups or states against human beings." The Muslim scholars termed Israeli aggression as the worst form of terrorism and justified any retaliation against the Jewish state and its people. They said Israel and Jewish communities abroad were responsible for anti-Islamic sentiment in the West in the wake of the Sept. 11 suicide attacks in New York and Washington.

"This [attacks by Israel] is the most dangerous terrorism to world peace and security and its confrontation is a just self-defense and jihad [holy war] in the way of Allah." the seminar, sponsored by the Islamic Fiqh Academy of the Muslim World League, said in a statement on Thursday. "Jihad is meant for upholding right, ending injustice, ensuring peace and security and establishing mercy. Terrorism and violence committed by the aggressor who usurp the land, desecrate holy sanctuaries and loot wealth cannot be compared to the practice the right of legitimate defense as used by the oppressed seeking to gain their legitimate rights to self-determination."

Saudi officials have acknowledged that the United States has pressed the kingdom to implement reforms that would delegitimize Islamic insurgency attacks. But the officials said Riyad rejected any prospect of changing its education curriculum that would undermine the stress on holy war.

"War does not necessarily mean military confrontation so much as spreading awareness to counter destructive ideologies and eradicating causes of the phenomenon by working seriously to find just solutions to international crises," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said in an interview with the London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat daily.

The Muslim scholars, completing a six-day conference, said terrorism also included "any act of violence or threat designed to terrorize people or endanger their lives or security" as well as damage to the environment. They said world conflict stems from the failure to solve the Palestinian problem.

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