Forum Islam di Malaysia Kecam Israel

(Israel under fire at Islamic forum in Malaysia)

Oleh: Rawhi Abeidoh

Kuala Lumpur (Reuters) - Malaysia telah menganjurkan satu persidangan mengenai keganasan yang disertai oleh negara-negara Islam, sambil mengecam pejuang berani mati dan askar Israel sebagai pengganas dan berpendapat bahawa keganasan di Timur Tengah hanya akan membiakkan keganasan juga.

Perdana Menteri Mahathir Mohamad, yang telah mengimbau kisah holokus Nazi mengganyang Yahudi ketika Perang Dunia Kedua, berkata bahawa askar Israel seharusnya berundur keluar daripada wilayah Palestin dan beliau telah mendesak dunia luar untuk campurtangan dengan menggunakan kekerasan jika Israel enggan berbuat demikian.

'Peristiwa holokus tidak mengalahkan Yahudi. Ulangan holokus dengan Arab sebagai mangsanya tidak akan mengalahkan Arab,' kata Mahathir semasa berucap di depan Menteri-menteri Luar OIC (Pertubuhan Negara-negara Islam).

'Israel harus sedar sendiri untuk mengendurkan ketegangan konflik keganasan. Jika Israel enggan mematuhi kehendak ini, seluruh dunia seharusnya bertindak memaksa mereka.'

Pertubuhan Negara-negara Islam mengadakan persidangan itu untuk membetulkan persepsi yang mengaitkan Islam dengan keganasan ekoran serangan 11 September oleh apa yang didakwa dilakukan oleh kumpulan radikal Islam.

Perwakilan daripada kebanyakan 57 negara ahli yang merangkumi Albania di Eropah hinggalah Indonesia di Asia, Guyana di Amerika Selatan dan Mozambique di Afrika - berada di Malaysia selama tiga hari.

'Saya ingin mencadangkan di sini bahawa serangan bersenjata ataupun apa juga bentuk serangan yang memangsakan orang awam harus dianggap sebagai tindakan keganasan dan mereka yang terlibat adalah pengganas,' kata Mahathir.

Perdana Menteri Israel Ariel Sharon telah menyatakan bahawa dia mengisytiharkan perang disebabkan keganasan Palestin selepas seorang pejuang relamati membunuh 15 orang. Pengawal keselamatan pemimpin Palestin Yasser Arafat telah melawan askar Israel yang mengepung ibupejabatnya di Ramallah.

Mahathir telah mengutuk tindakan Israel itu dan berkata segala taktik seperti itu tidak akan dapat mengalahkan kumpulan pengganas.

'Mereka tidak mudah lemah semangat disebabkan ugutan mati. Membunuh pemimpin mereka tidak akan membantu,' katanya. 'Akan muncul pemimpin yang lebih ganas lagi untuk menggantikan pemimpin yang gugur dan serangan keganasan akan berterusan'

Mahathir yang dihantui cabaran kumpulan radikal Islam di negaranya sendiri, berkata bahawa sebab-musabab yang mencetuskan tindakan keganasan itu seharusnya tidak dilupakan. 'Kita tidak boleh memperlekeh mereka sebagai puak yang seronok menakutkan orang ramai,' katanya sambil merujuk kepada puak yang relamati.

Ketua perwakilan Palestin Farouq al-Kaddoumi berkata bahawa penaklukan tanah kepunyaan Palestin oleh Israel menyemarakkan semangat pejuang relamati.

'Penaklukan (bumi Palestin) adalah satu bentuk keganasan yang paling dahsyat terhadap insani, dan tentu ada sebab kenapa seseorang itu sanggup mengorbankan nyawanya,' kata Al Kaddoumi yang merupakan ketua jabatan politik PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation). Sebabnya ialah keganasan yang ditaja oleh kerajaan (Israel).'

Menteri luar Iran Kamal Kharrazi telah mengutuk serangan terhadap orang awam tetapi berpendapat sebab sebenar serangan itu dilakukan harus diperbetulkan.

'Kami percaya orang awam seharusnya tidak diapa-apakan tetapi pada waktu yang sama, kami sedang menilai pilihan yang kami harap dapat membetulkan keadaan,' katanya, sambil menyalahkan penaklukan Israel ke atas bumi Palestin sebagai penyebab pertumpahan darah di Timur Tengah.

Ketika tercetus peristiwa 11 September di Amerika Syarikat, Amerika menuduh Osama bin Laden dan kumpulan Al-Qaeda yang dipimpinnya hingga menyebabkan negara Islam mengambil sikap bertahan.

Pihak berkuasa telah menjumpai beberapa sel militan di banyak tempat di Eropah, Asia Tenggara, Amerika Syarikat dan Australia. Banyak negara Islam telah menerima ugutan pihak ekstrim di negara sendiri.

Menteri luar Afghan Abdullah Abdullah, berkata segelintir kumpulan Taliban dan pejuang Al-Qaeda masih berada di negaranya dan beliau gembira kerana dapat bercakap mengenai keganasan.

'Sebagai sebuah negara dan rakyatnya yang telah menanggung kepedihan kuasa keganasan, kami gembira dapat menyertai persidangan ini,' katanya. 'Yang diperlukan ialah persetujuan sejagat terhadap bahaya global ini.'

Arab Saudi dan beberapa negara berjiran dengan medan perang seperti Mesir, Jordan dan Syria tidakpun menghantar menteri luar mereka menghadiri persidangan itu tetapi menghantar perwakilan bertaraf pegawai rendah sahaja.

Terjemahan: SPAR

Asal:

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/020401/reuters/asia-97778.html

Monday April 1, 3:28 PM

Israel under fire at Islamic forum in Malaysia

By Rawhi Abeidoh

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia opened an Islamic conference on terror on Monday, branding both Palestinian suicide bombers and Israeli soldiers as terrorists and saying that violence in the Middle East will only breed more violence.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, recalling the Nazi holocaust against the Jews during World War Two, said Israel should pull its troops out of the Palestinian territories and urged the world to intervene by force if it did not.

"The holocaust did not defeat the Jews. A second holocaust with Arabs for victims will not defeat the Arabs either," Mahathir told foreign ministers from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

"Israelis must come to their senses and opt for de-escalation of terror rather than escalating it. If the Israelis won't, then the world must forcibly stop them."

The organisation called the conference to dispel perceptions equating Islam with terrorism in the wake of the September 11 attacks by Muslim radical airline hijackers who killed almost 3,000 people in the United States

Ministers or their representatives from most of the organisation's 57 members -- who range from Albania in Europe to Indonesia in Asia, Guyana in South America and Mozambique in Africa -- were in Malaysia for the three-day meeting.

Mahathir proposed a definition for terrorism encompassing all violence targeted at civilians, which he said included the September 11 attacks, Palestinian and Tamil suicide bombers as well as assaults by Israel in the Palestinian territories.

"I would like to suggest here that armed attacks or other forms of attacks against civilians must be regarded as acts of terror and the perpetrators regarded as terrorists," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said at the weekend he was declaring "uncompromising war" on Palestinian terror after a suicide bomber killed 15 people. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's guards have been fighting Israeli troops besieging his Ramallah headquarters.

Mahathir denounced the Israeli crackdown in the West Bank, including the siege against Arafat in Ramallah, and said such tactics did not work against terror groups.

"They are not likely to be deterred by the threat of death. Killing their leader is not going to help either," he said. "More violent leaders will replace the fallen leader and the terror attacks will go on."

THE ROOTS CAUSES OF TERROR

Mahathir, who faces a challenge from Muslim radicals at home, said the root causes behind acts of terror could not be ignored. "We cannot just dismiss them as senseless perverts who enjoy terrorising people," he added, referring to the perpetrators.

Palestinian delegation head Farouq al-Kaddoumi said Israel's capture of his people's land fuelled suicide bombings.

"The occupation is the highest and the worst kind of terrorism and (for) the human being, when he intends to lose his life and to sacrifice his life, there should be a reason," al-Kaddoumi, head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) political office, added. "The reason is state terrorism."

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi denounced attacks against civilians but also said the root causes underlying such attacks had to be addressed.

"We believe that civilians should not be hurt but at the same time, if we are looking for any solution, we have to remove the root causes of this problem," he added, blaming Israel's occupation of Palestinian land for bloodshed in the Middle East.

The September 11 attacks on the United States -- blamed by Washington on Saudi-born radical Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network -- have put Islamic nations on the defensive.

Authorities have uncovered suspected militant cells as far apart as Europe, Southeast Asia, the United States and Australia. Many Muslim nations have faced threats from extremists at home.

Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, member of an interim government that replaced Afghanistan's hardline Islamic Taliban rulers, said small pockets of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters were still on the run in his country and welcomed the chance to talk about terrorism.

"As a country and as a people who have suffered at the (hands of a) reign of terror, we are pleased to be in this conference," he said. "What is needed is a global response against the global menace."

Saudi Arabia and front-line states Egypt, Jordan and Syria have not sent foreign ministers to the Kuala Lumpur meeting and were represented by lower-level delegations.