KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 (South News) - Malaysia Friday urged the
Organisation
of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to scrap "outdated" resolutions on
Iraq.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid said "The title and content of
the
resolution pertaining to Iraq is one important example to which
Malaysia
has its own reservations.

Syed Hamid said Malaysia hopes that Iraq and Kuwait, together with
other
Arab states would find amicable solutions. If we could only achieve
consensus in the same spirit as in the appointment of the
secretary-general, where we debated, discussed, appealed and look at
our
hearts to find an agreed formula where the victor is not the candidate
but
the conference, he added.

The Malaysian minister, closing a four-day meeting of OIC foreign
ministers, said the 31-year-old body must "strike out from our agenda
all
those items which are outdated, irrelevant, one-sided or which no
longer
reflect the current situation."

"It is sad to see that Muslims themselves knowingly allow the suffering
of
Muslim brothers, sisters and children to persist, by lending their
consent
not to lift the sanctions imposed on Iraq," he said in his closing
speech.
"Let us learn to overcome our differences as taught by Islam."

Iraq had urged ministers to call for a lifting of the United Nations
sanctions imposed after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Instead a
toughly-worded final communique called on Iraq "not to again use
military
force or any other forces in an aggressive or provocative manner to
threaten its neighbours or UN operations in Iraq." The communique
expressed
sympathy for the suffering of the Iraqi people but told Baghdad to
resume
cooperation with the UN weapons monitoring operation.

Malaysia, which last hosted an OIC foreign ministers' meeting in 1974,
had
tried to focus the meeting on economic issues and the need to reform
the
OIC itself.

The theme of the conference was "Islam and globalisation." It opened
Tuesday with a stark warning from Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad, that Islamic states could end up as "banana republics" unless
they
acquire the skills to meet the challenges of globalisation and the
information revolution.

The final OIC communique "stresses the need for effective measures to
alleviate the negative impact of the international economic order on
the
economies of OIC members to guarantee they benefit from globalisation
on an
equal footing."

The communique issued at the end of the 27th session of the Islamic
Conference of Foreign Ministers in Kuala Lumpur urges a reversal of a
trend
to "marginalise developing nations" in international decision-making on
globalisation and says trade liberalisation "has not been beneficial to
the
developing countries."

The final OIC communiqe also calls on the international community,
particularly the United States and the European Union, to stop
assistance
to Israel as it uses the aid to carry out its colonialist settlement
schemes.

Such settlements were present in the occupied Arab territories,
Palestine
and the Golan Heights in occupied Syrian territory, it said.

The international community was also urged to boycott products and
goods
from such settlements in the occupied territories in pursuance of
resolutions of international legality as they originated from illegal
settlements.

"The conference calls on all states in the world to recognise the State
of
Palestine upon its proclamation in the Palestinian territories and
provide
the Palestinian people with all forms of assistance so they can
exercise
their sovereignty," said the document.

The Foreign Ministers said the Palestinians had the right to establish
their own independent state on national soil with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as
its
capital.

They also urged all states to support Palestine to enable it to gain
full
UN membership and take part in the Millennium Meeting of World Leaders
in
New York in September.

The ministers underlined that Israel's violation of the principles of
the
peace process as well as its procrastination and evasion at
implementation
level had seriously undermined the said process.

In addition, they called on Islamic states which had taken steps to
establish relations with Israel within the framework of the peace
process
to reconsider such relations including the closure of missions and
offices
until Israel complied with UN resolutions.

The UN, they said, should also send a fact-finding mission to, among
others, investigate the status of Palestinian lands and possessions.

The Foreign Ministers also called for a more effective participation of
the
UN in ensuring the success of the peace process in the Middle East and
reaffirmed the continued responsibility of the UN towards the
Palestinian
question until a comprehensive solution was reached.

All concerned states and parties should provide assistance to enable
the
Palestinian people to build their national economy, they said.

The ministers called on the international community and the Security
Council to force Israel to comply with UN resolutions and to accede to
the
treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and implement the
resolutions of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

They condemned Israel for its continued occupation of expanses of land
inside the internationally-recognised Lebanese borders.

They also asked the international community to take measures to compel
Israel to set free all Lebanese prisoners detained in Israeli prisons
in
contravention of the provisions of the universal declaration of human
rights.

The final OIC communique of  Foreign Ministers also touches on a host
of
other political issues, rapping India for "flagrant" rights violations
in
Kashmir, attacking Armenian "aggression" against Azerbaijan and calling
on
Russia to reach a peaceful settlement in Chechnya.