Welcome to Kafir: Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Islamic Summit Conference

The third Extraordinary Islamic Summit Conference (OIC) started on Wednesday in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The summit is intended to help unite the world's Muslims and courage OIC countries to increase cooperation and reduce poverty and disease. 57 countries will participate in the two-day summit.

In his speech on Wednesday, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz called on Islamic states to fight extremism. "Islamic unity will not be achieved by bloodletting as the miscreants -- in their misguided waywardness -- insist on claiming.

"Fanaticism and extremism can not grow on an earth whose soil is embedded in the spirit of tolerance, moderation, and balance. It is here that the Islamic Fiqh Academy, with its overhauled makeup, comes in to assume its historic role and responsibility in resisting the extremist ideology in all its forms and manifestations. Further more, a gradual approach to this end is the way forward to ensure success, which starts with consultation in all walks of life -- political, economic, cultural, and social domains -- to reach a stage of solidarity and, God willing, to a true and fortified unity worked through strong institutions so as to restore the Ummah to its rightful place in the balance of power," the Saudi king said.

A 10-year strategic plan for Muslims will be submitted at the summit, ushering in a new era of Islamic unity and solidarity.

Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, OIC Secretary-General, said that neither Iraq nor Kashmir were on the agenda of the conference. He explained that the OIC was intended to review the current state of the Islamic nation and to explore strategies for the Muslim world and enable it to face the challenges of the 21st century.

“The summit will discuss ways and means for the Islamic nation to regain a sense of self-confidence and to enable it to face the dangers that threaten it,” Ihsanoglu added.

Bin Laden alive and leading jihad

Al Qaeda's leader Osama bin Laden is still alive and leading a holy war against the West, the network's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri says in an Internet video.

"Al Qaeda for holy war is still, thanks to God, a base for jihad," Zawahri said in a video posted on a website frequently used by Islamists groups. "Its prince Sheikh Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, is still leading its jihad."

Zawahri says Al Qaeda is spreading and expanding. "(Al Qaeda) has transformed into a popular organisation confronting a new crusader Zionist campaign, in defence of all violated Muslim lands," he said.

The interview is to mark the fourth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the USA.

Zawahri added the new "crusader" campaign by the United States and its Western allies was failing as evident by U.S. losses in Afghanistan and Iraq. "America and its crusader allies have not achieved anything. Its forces in the battleground are receiving blows each day."

He also slammed the Iraqi government. "The (Iraqi) government is begging Americans not to leave because they know the day Americans leave is the day they are finished."

AB

Israel beefs up security

Israel beefed up security and vowed to target the leadership of the radical Palestinian movement Islamic Jihad on Tuesday as the victims of a suicide bomb attack at a shopping mall were being laid to rest.

While Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened a meeting of his security cabinet, police reinforcements were posted along the Green Line, which separates Israel from the West Bank and new checkpoints sprung up around the entrances to major commercial centers and highways.

The army also announced on Monday night that a general closure was being imposed on both the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the light of the attack in the northern coastal town of Netanya, the first suicide bombing since October.

MET