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Solana tours Middle East to calm cartoon tensions
The EU's foreign policy chief on Monday began a tour of the Middle East aimed at defusing the row over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, as Egypt called for urgent dialogue between the West and Muslim countries to avert a clash of civilisations. "People in the Muslim world are starting to feel this is a new September 11 against them," said Javier Solana after arriving in Saudi Arabia.
 "(In) the European Union ... we never had wanted in any case to offend their feelings," he said following a meeting in Jeddah with the Organisation of the Islamic Conference's (OIC) Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu. The OIC had urged the European Union on Saturday to combat what it termed "Islamophobia" which it said should be equated with xenophobia and anti-Semitism. Solana's four-day tour, to include visits to Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Israel, is aimed at easing tensions over the cartoons. The row, sparked by the publication in a Danish newspaper of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, including one with him wearing a turban shaped as a bomb, pits defenders of free speech against Muslims who see the cartoons as insulting and blasphemous. Posted by: Fred 2006-02-14 |
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