MUSLIMS representing some of the largest national and local Muslim organisations in the UK held a crisis meeting on Friday, 7th March.

The meeting discussed a number of pressing issues, the most crucial of which was the US-led campaign for war against Iraq. Also discussed was the need to strongly condemn in the the policies of incursions, assassinations and collective punishments pursued by the Israeli occupation authorities.

Regarding the war on Iraq, representatives affirmed their unequivocal opposition to any military action against Iraq.

They agreed that the primary victims of this war will be the innocent people of Iraq, many thousands of whom will perish in the first few hours of aerial bombardment by US and British warplanes.

They expressed their concern that the ramifications of the military action are likely to be more catastrophic than anything humanity has witnessed so far by virtue of the employment of weapons and munitions that bring long-term human suffering and environmental contamination.

The Muslim organisations represented in the meeting agreed to join the Muslim Association of Britain and its partners in the alliance against the war (Stop the War Campaign and CND) in mobilizing the British public, and particularly the Muslims of Britain, to take part in the series of protests that have been or will be staged in case the war is waged.

Mosque Imams across the UK will be called on to dedicate the Friday sermons immediately following the start of the war to raise Muslim public awareness of the dangers of the war and to urge worshippers to join protests against the war nationally and in their localities.

Regarding the crisis in Palestine the follwoing points were made. The preoccupation by our government in Britain and by the US administration in preparing for war against Iraq has provided the Sharon-led regime with the opportunity to persecute, with impunity, the Palestinian people who are left helpless and defenceless by an international community that has failed its responsibilities toward them.

While regretting the loss of innocent life, whether Muslim or Jewish, it is Israel's illegal occupation and inhumane treatment of the Palestinians that provoke Palestinians to resort to desperate acts of revenge. Unless, and until, the Israelis withdraw from the occupied territories and undertake not to attack Palestinians, lives will continue to be lost and pain and misery will persist on both sides.

Our government should have dedicated its resources and energies to putting an end to the bloodshed in Palestine instead of joining the United States in a war that will shed the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Iraq.