EARTH: POLITICS NOT RELIGION DIVIDE THE WEST & ISLAM

Annan says politics, not religion, at heart of Muslim-West divide

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Political tensions, rather than religious differences, are the source of the rift between the West and the Muslim world, and any resolution must include an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday.

"We should start by reaffirming and demonstrating that the problem is not the Quran or the Torah or the Bible," Annan said after receiving a report by an international group of scholars that proposes ways to overcome the divide. "The problem is never the faith, it is the faithful and how they behave toward each other."

Annan, who will relinquish his post to Ban Ki-moon on Jan. 1, said violence was fueled by fear and misunderstandings, economic disparities, wars by Western powers in Muslim countries and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

His claim that religion was not the root of the conflicts that have multiplied since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States contradicted those of some theorists who believe cultural and religious identity emerged as the main source of tension following the Cold War. One of the most prominent champions of the latter theory is Samuel Huntington, author of the 1996 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order.

In a challenge to that theory, Annan traveled to Istanbul to attend a meeting of the U.N.-backed "Alliance of Civilizations Initiative," which enabled a group of experts and luminaries to draft a report on how to promote peace.

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World: Istanbul Report Analyzes Christian-Muslim Tensions

PRAGUE, November 13, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be key to bridging the growing gap between the West and the Muslim world.

That's one of the main findings of a United Nations-backed panel of scholars, politicians, and other experts from around the world. The group -- part of the "Alliance of Civilizations" -- presented its report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Istanbul today.

The report is the work of 20 experts including former Iranian President Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

For the past year, they've been discussing how to narrow what they say is growing "polarization" between Western and Islamic societies.

Their chief conclusion is that politics -- not culture or religion -- is the root cause, and that urgent action must be taken to bridge the divide.

Emmanuel Kattan is a consultant for the group.

"They focus particularly on the Arab-Israeli conflict as one of the symbolic issues that has caused a lot of resentment and anger in the Muslim world and is driving the rise of extremism," Kattan says. "Western military operations in Iraq or Afghanistan [were] also [identified as] very primary factors in the present polarization."

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Pertinent Links:

1) Annan says politics, not religion, at heart of Muslim-West divide

2) World: Istanbul Report Analyzes Christian-Muslim Tensions