ISTANBUL, Turkey, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- A U.N.-led initiative to resolve the conflict between the West and the Muslim world says the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the primary source of the problem.
The framework, which took a year to prepare, was issued Monday in Turkey by leaders from various cultural and religious backgrounds, reports The New York Times.
"No other conflict carries such a powerful symbolic and emotional charge among people far removed from the battlefield," outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told reporters. "As long as the Palestinians live under occupation, exposed to daily frustration and humiliation, and as long as Israelis are blown up in buses and in dance halls, so long will passions everywhere be inflamed."
Among those who drafted the report were Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami. The report also called for collective action to deal with issue of education, youth and immigration.
Annan, who will appoint a representative to oversee follow-up actions, said the initiative will have little impact if Muslims in violent places continue to perceive themselves as being victimized by non-Muslims, the report said.
