The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) aims to hold an emergency ministerial meeting on the Palestinian issue and Iraq on April 22, assistant secretary general Abdul Aziz Abu Ghosh said on Thursday.
"The OIC secretariat was contacted today by Malaysia about holding an emergency meeting at foreign minister level. The proposed date is April 22," he told AFP from OIC headquarters in the Saudi city of Jeddah.
The meeting, involving a dozen foreign ministers from countries represented in the presidency bureau and various committees, will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Abu Ghosh said.
"The OIC secretariat and Malaysia have started contacts with member states on holding the emergency meeting," he said.
Malaysia, which currently chairs the 57-member pan-Islamic organisation, said earlier on Thursday that the OIC would hold an emergency meeting on developments in the Middle East at the request of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Plans for a meeting on May 4 to discuss Iraq and the Palestinian issue would be brought forward in view of the major policy shift announced by US President George W. Bush Wednesday, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told the official Bernama news agency.
"We want to organise the meeting earlier because we now feel the urgency of the new development," Syed Hamid said.
Bush, breaking with a decades-old US policy, stated after talks Wednesday with Israeli leader Ariel Sharon that Israel could keep some Arab land captured in the 1967 war.
Arafat's request for an emergency meeting was conveyed to Malaysia earlier on Thursday by Palestinian ambassador Ahmad Al-Farra, Syed Hamid said.
"The Palestinians expect the OIC to play a role to put the road map (for Middle East peace) on its track," he said.
The OIC special ministerial meeting is expected to draw representatives from 12 member states holding the chairs of various committees in the grouping. Syed Hamid said that the US endorsement of Sharon's proposals would not contribute to peace and prosperity in the Middle East.
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