PALESTINE ISSUE NOT EXCLUSIVELY ARAB, SAYS NGO

KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 (Bernama) -- The Palestine issue is not exclusively
Arab and should only be resolved by the Arab world, as it is an issue of the
Islamic World, said Future Global Network Foundation (FGN) chairman Ahmad Azam
Abdul Rahman.

"Recently, the Arab League said the Palestine issue was an Arab issue. This
hurts our feelings since this issue is an Islamic World issue.

"If they want to zero in on the issue as a regional one, then that will
create more trouble than solving it," he said at the International Symposium
on Palestine organised by the Union of NGOs of the Islamic World (UNIW) in
Istanbul, Turkey on May 31.

In a faxed statement to Bernama, Ahmad Azam who is also a UNIW council
member, said the entire Muslim world should be involved in the Palestine issue,
adding that UNIW and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) could and
should play a greater role in the Muslim world.

The symposium was attended by more than 2,000 people including academicians,
intellectuals, representatives and delegations of NGOs, experts, journalists,
writers and guests.

The symposium stressed that Israel's occupation of Palestinian land should
be terminated at once and that the resistance of the Palestinian people
against the unjust occupation was legitimate.

It also called on international organisations, think tanks, lobby bodies and
all the relevant international parties to take concrete steps towards a fair
solution to the issue and establishing permanent peace in Palestine.

The symposium also called on the leaders of the Islamic World and Islamic
international organisations, particularly the Organisation of the Islamic
Conference (OIC), to be more effective on the Palestine issue.

-- BERNAMA