Straw drops reference to `war` in combating terrorism
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, March 23, IRNA -- British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Tuesda made a fresh appeal for unity and common purpose in combating international terrorism by dropping any reference to the global challenge being a `war.` "We must combat division by engaging with people of different faiths and origins on the basis of the universal values for which we all stand," Straw told a seminar on `Global Challenges to the EU` in Copenhagen. He underlined the importance of building partnerships with the EU`s neighbors in the Mediterranean and Arab world by combining a better understanding with active engagement of Islamic countries. "We also need to renew our common efforts to get Israelis and Palestinians to re-engage on the Roadmap for peace," the Foreign Secretary further said. "Engagement in the world outside Europe will be just as important as common action within our borders," he added. Straw`s more cautious language follows protests from British Muslims after he reverted back last week to describe the international security threat as a "war against Islamic terrorism." In his latest speech, he argued that the terrorists` aim was to promote division between Islam and the West and to feed "the rhetoric of a clash of civilizations." To combat this, the Foreign Secretary suggested that the values of Europe and America were not Judeo-Christian "but universal and shared by peace-loving people everywhere." He also appealed to his EU partners to put divisions over the Iraq war behind them, saying that "our focus now should be on our shared goals for the future, whether building a safe, free and prosperous Iraq or working together to defeat the global threat of terrorism." HC/216 End
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