Furthermore, Israel later succeeded, while deflecting world public opinion from all its illegitimate excesses and the unprecedented havoc it wreaked through its devastating campaigns and State terrorism on record in which it indulges, to impose, in the international arena, what it calls today the necessity to reform the Palestinian National Authority.

Hope is pinned today on the success of the endeavors being made to promote the widely accepted initiative of HRH Prince Abdullah ibn Abdul Aziz to be placed on the track of practical implementation, now that it has been endorsed on the Arab plane and met with a great positive response at both the Islamic and international levels. One reason for confidence is that the new American discourse and the European and international positions are unanimous as to the inevitable establishment of an independent viable Palestinian State in the Palestinian territories. That position was backed by the Security Council by virtue of the ‘important resolutions it recently adopted, namely 1397, 1402 and 1403.

Whoever reviews the general condition of the Islamic world during a year’s time would realize what I just mentioned, namely that the situation therein experienced nothing less than tremors, foremost among which was what happened in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan paid an exorbitant price in lives and properties during the raids on its territories when forces of the international coalition, with the help of certain Afghan parties, managed to crush the Taleban regime and paralyzed AI-Qaeda organization. Then an interim government was set up to run the affairs of the State on a caretaker basis until the Loya Jirga met - the traditional tribal parliament and gave a chance to the representatives of the Afghan society to partake in running the affairs of the country. The meeting of the Loya Jirga elected a President of the interim administration and named a Cabinet for the political and economic reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan, and contribute towards the consolidation of security and stability in that part of the world.

We hope that international financial aid for rehabilitation and reconstruction projects shall be pursued, as was decided at the donor countries’ conference in Tokyo and that the culture of war as well as ethnic and tribal strife shall be brought to an end for that country to enjoy calm and certainty and devote its efforts to the coming battle of development. I appeal to you, in this context, to extend your generous contributions to the Fund set up by the OIC during the extraordinary conference in Doha to assist the Afghan people by alleviating the sufferings they have endured and rebuilding their country.

The continuing tensions in Jammu and Kashmir are so high that Pakistan and India are on the verge of a devastating nuclear conflagration. The OIC appealed to the two neighboring States to exercise self-restraint and abide by the Security Council resolutions providing for a settlement of the dispute through a referendum on self-determination whereby the Kashmiri people would have the final say on their political future. The General Secretariat issued a statement expressing its deep and extreme concern over the tensions between the two neighbouring countries and offered its mediation and good offices to defuse the situation and pave the way for dialogue between the two sides.

As for the situation in Somalia, it is still the cause of deep preoccupations and giving rise to lot of fears as the provisional government is still unable to spread its influence quite adequately while military confrontations among the warring factions which refuse to recognize the provisional government continue unabated. There are apprehensions that the state of continuous laxity may increase the chances of foreign intervention in that country’s internal affairs, thereby exposing its territorial integrity to a real and perpetual danger, especially in the light of the failed mediation attempts between the conflicting parties.