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Israel-Palestinian Issue Paramount in East-West Relations

A multinational group of 20 experts has presented its report to UN chief Kofi Anna. The group is mostly sponsored by Spain and Turkey and has been given the instructions to find the way to improve the relations between Islam and the West. Turkey is a unique example in the world for a predominantly Islamic nation founding a long lived secular republic. Many see Turkey as a natural bridge between the West and Islam is at has been for centuries in its earlier form as the Ottoman Empire. At that Ottoman`s dominated the Middle East and have brought many improvements from the west to the Islamic world as well as the other way around.

The 20 experts convened in Istanbul for two days to work out a document presenting the prospects of Islam-Western relations warming. The experts, among them ex-Iranian president Mohamed Khatami and South African Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu have established that the settling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is crucial to the warming of inter-civilization relations. The document called upon the international community to get the Israeli?Palestinian peace process running "as soon as possible" as the continued occupation of the Palestinian people and the continued terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians continue "passions everywhere be inflamed".

The report also criticized western involvement in Iraq as a cause of further stress on Islamic-Western relations. Annan has affirmed the reports conclusion regarding the importance of the Israeli-Arab conflict. Annan hopes the international community move to resolve this conflict in the near future. He also added that the reports calls to improve understanding among the two civilizations by increasing youth exchange programs and media campaigns to stop discrimination and bias against Islamic culture may be hindered by preexisting antagonism. The group is due to present its final report in New York by the end of December.