- (AFP) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi has called
for a meeting of Muslim states following US moves towards recognising Jerusalem
as the capital of Israel, the official news agency IRNA reported.
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- Kharazi urged that the Al-Qods (Jerusalem) committee
of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference meet to discuss the consequences
of a new US law, in talks with his Moroccan counterpart Mohamed Benaissa,
IRNA said Thursday.
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- The purpose of the Al-Qods committee, chaired by Morocco's
King Mohammed VI, is to preserve the Islamic character of Jerusalem, whose
Arab eastern sector was captured and annexed by Israel in 1967.
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- US President George W. Bush signed into law earlier this
week the 2003 Foreign Relations Authorization Act, which contains the State
Department's budget.
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- Congress insisted on retaining a clause calling for the
relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and denying funding
for any official US document unless it identifies the city as Israel's
capital.
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- Bush said that as the arbiter of US foreign policy he
would not implement the decision, but Arab and other Muslim states reacted
with fury, saying he was going against UN resolutions on the status of
the disputed holy city.
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- Deputy State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said
Wednesday US policy on Jerusalem was unchanged and Washington still believed
its future should be settled between Israel and the Palestinians.
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- Along with most other countries, the United States maintains
its embassy in Israel in Tel Aviv to reflect the contested nature of Arab
east Jerusalem, whose annexation has never been recognized by the United
Nations.
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- Israel has declared Jerusalem, whose eastern sector in
particular contains sites sacred to Muslims, Jews and Christians, its eternal
undivided capital.
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- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, whose people claim
east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, denounced the law
as a "disaster".
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- Russia, whose support Washington seeks for an invasion
of Iraq, said all parties should "avoid unilateral actions that anticipate
the results of negotiations on a final status."
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- Washington's top Arab allies, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi
Arabia, all voiced anger over the law, as did Syria and Iran, the 22-member
Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the 57-member OIC.
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- Kharazi said Wednesday, "This is a blatant insult
to Muslim countries and shows the US is profiteering from the current situation".
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- Iran is an archfoe of the United States and of Israel,
whose existence it does not recognise.
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