rooted principle, and not an intellectual luxury or a seasonal event. The world is in dire need, now more than ever, to spread the culture of justice and peace which is based upon dialogue, concord and alliance, and upon educating the generations in the values of mutual acquaintance and respect. The concord we are calling for has to be founded on a set of principles, on top of all the reinforcement of world peace and condemnation of all kinds of hatred, discrimination, violence, terrorism, extremism, intolerance, injustice, oppression and hostility directed against peoples struggling for their self-determination and independence". He called upon the world to take urgent action to help the Palestinian people put an end to their suffering at the hands of the oppressive Israeli occupation and establish their independent state, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. He did also call for abiding by a pact of honor among the followers of the three divine religions, founded upon mutual respect and concord on the common fundamentals of faith. Accordingly, they have to work together to ban any insult to religious beliefs or to pre-eminent religious symbols with whom believers identify themselves. They have also to halt all attempts aiming at stirring up hostile feelings against Islam and Muslims, desecrating their beliefs and trampling their dignity as this trend has reached in recent years alarming proportions that may have unpredictable repercussions. ISESCO Director General said that Muslims throughout history have been living in peace, security and fraternity. He invited the world to draw a lesson from this very place, Andalusia, where the three divine religions coexisted with each other, thus bringing forth a great civilization, whose symbols include Averroes and Mussa Ibn Maymun. "We are in great need today", he said, "to follow the spirit of Andalusia which prevailed among the followers of the three religions, and adhere to its connotative values and ideals".
