Reaching just settlement to ME requires establishment of Palestinian state

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa returns to Cairo on Saturday from New York after attending the new session of the United Nations General Assembly and an Arab-European session.

Al-Akhbar learned that Moussa will request holding a meeting of the Arab League on the level of the permanent delegates to expound on the outcome of contacts and meetings in Europe and the United States on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Moussa discussed chances of cooling down the situation on the Palestinian arena and halting the Israeli attack.

Moussa said the deteriorating situation in the Middle East now topped the agenda of the current session of the United Nations General Assembly despite the fact that these meetings focused on the issue of terrorism and the September 11 events.

In an interview with Sawt Al-Arab Radio Wednesday, Moussa reiterated that the Arab states are fighting terrorism from the start, warning that striking any Arab country would mean the division of international consensus on combatting terrorism.

The Arabs would never accept that, he emphasized.

The current General Assembly session was brief, running for only one week, he said, pointing out that the main item of discussions was international terrorism.

Arab diplomacy is working in earnest so that the situation in the region and the Arab-Israel conflict be on the agenda with the same strength and priority, he added.

Asked on the campaign against the Islamic culture and Arab entity and the discrimination practices against Arabs communities in the West, Moussa said such issue is strongly brought out before the international community, noting that during his visit to Britain he discussed this matter especially slanderous attacks against the Arab and Islamic cultures.

In other statements, Moussa said that Arabs were united in condemning all forms of terrorism, but he cautioned against confusing Islam with terror. "A distinction must be made between the legitimate resistance against foreign occupation and terrorism," added Amr Moussa, the Chief of the Arab League.

He said in remarks in New York that Israel's repressive acts against the Palestinians could not be overlooked.

While welcoming recent U.S. and European backing for the creation of the Palestinian state, he said that statements alone would not serve.

"The Arab countries are worried over the smear campaign unleashed by some quarters against Islamic civilization and Arab identity and racist practices against some members of the Arab-community," he said.

Moussa Tuesday night joined Arab Foreign Ministers in a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly gathering.