The United States was pressed to commit itself to a specific timetable for the withdrawal of its forces from Iraq as Muslim nations opened their biggest conference since the 2001 terror attacks on the US.

The point was hammered home by speaker after speaker as the ministers of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) prepared for a summit of heads of state on Thursday and Friday.

Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr Al-Thani of Qatar, which has held the OIC chairmanship since the last summit three years ago, told the opening session that Muslim states needed to push for "a specific timetable for ending the occupation."

"It is our duty to provide the necessary support to the Iraqi people, and proclaim our attachment to Iraq's unity, territorial integrity and the right to self-determination," he said.

Role for UN

Syed Hamid Albar, foreign minister of the incoming chair, Malaysia, said "foreign occupation of the country must be brought to an end as soon as possible.

"The occupying powers must work in earnest on a timetable for a democratically elected government to be installed within a reasonably prompt timeframe.

"But most important of all, in upholding the principle of multilateralism, the UN must be given the central role in assisting the Iraqi people to determine their future and in reconstruction of their country."

The two men also singled out the situation in the Middle East as a priority for the summit, condemning the killing of Palestinian civilians in Israeli incursions and the raid last week on an alleged Palestinian training camp in Syria.

"This blatant act of aggression against Syria, a fellow member of the OIC, must be condemned in the strongest terms as provocative, arrogant and dangerous," said Syed Hamid.

The Muslim world was facing "great challenges", he said.

"The threats of unilateralism, globalization and terrorism, the precarious situation in the Middle East and the uncertain future in Iraq, to name a few, have only served to threaten our very survival."

Islam under scope

OIC secretary-general Abdelouahed Belkeziz took the same line.

"We meet under conditions that are full with challenges and dangers unprecedented in the contemporary history of the Islamic nation," he said.

"Islam itself is being accused in its culture, civilisation and speech. Our religion is a religion of peace and tolerance... it stresses the sanctity of human life, it upholds the noble values and calls for welfare.

"Yet Muslims are filled with feelings of impotence and frustration as some of their countries are occupied, others are under sanctions, a third group threatened and a fourth group accused of sponsoring terrorism.

"Muslims abroad are considered with suspicion, surrounded and deprived of their rights. Our economic conditions are fragile and weak compared to large economic blocs and we cannot achieve minimum economic coordination.

"Our media is unable to confront the false accusations and joint Islamic political action is unable to confer to us protection and pride. This is not to mention what's happening in Iraq and the suffering of the Palestinian people at the hands of the Israeli brutal machine," he said.

The conference is taking place amid tight security in Malaysia's new administrative capital of Putrajaya south of Kuala Lumpur, with more than 8,000 armed police and soldiers on duty, backed by helicopters overhead and launches patrolling the many lakes in the area. - AFP