| The German government said on Wednesday it would try to stop an "Arab Islamic Congress" taking place in Berlin next month to rally support for "resistance and intifada" in Iraq and Israel. "I will do everything I can to make sure that such a conference does not take place," Interior Minister Otto Schily told reporters. He said the government believed the event, announced on the Internet (http://www.anamoqawem.org/berlincall.htm) and planned for Oct. 1-3, was a threat to security and public order. Schily said he would coordinate with the foreign ministry to try to stop would-be participants entering the country. Organisers have confirmed their plans for the event but have not said where in Berlin they intend to hold it. On their Web site, they urge Iraqi and Palestinian resistance and advocate "the liberation of all the occupied territories and countries in (the) struggle against the American-Zionist hegemony and occupation". In a letter to Schily, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre described the planned meeting as "a political platform for radical Jihad and a market for potential European youth recruits to the ranks of terrorism". The centre -- an international Jewish human rights group best known for tracking down former Nazis -- urged the minister to stop the meeting, investigate its organisers and ban foreign participants from entering Germany. |