Politics, and not religion, is at the heart of the growing rift between the West and the Muslim world, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has said.

Annan made the comments in Istanbul on Monday, as he met scholars, politicians and religious leaders to discuss ways to improve relations between 'East' and 'West'.

The 'Alliance of Civilisations' was jointly formed by Spain and Turkey in 2005 as part of a UN-backed initiative which was led by the Spanish government in response to the Madrid train bombings.
Middle East peace

Annan also said that any effort to stop growing violence between Islamic and Western societies must include an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

"We may wish to think of the Arab-Israeli conflict as just one regional conflict amongst many. It is not. No other conflict carries such a powerful symbolic and emotional charge among people far removed from the battlefield," he said.

Annan said he would work along with his successor, Ban Ki-Moon, to help implement the recommendations of the report, which called for renewed efforts toward the goal of establishing "two fully sovereign and independent states co-existing side by side in peace and security."

"As long as the Palestinians live under occupation, exposed to daily frustration and humiliation, and as long as Israelis are blown up in buses and in dance halls, so long will passions everywhere be inflamed," Annan said.

The report was drafted over the past year by a group of 20 prominent men and women, which includes Mohammad Khatami, the former Iranian president, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Both were in attendance at the ceremony held in Istanbul.

The UN initiative is co-sponsored by the prime ministers of Spain, a predominantly Catholic country, and Turkey, which is 99 per cent Muslim.

PHOTO CAPTION

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan talks during a press conference following the Alliance of Civilizations Fourth High Level Group Meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday, Nov. 13, 2006. (AP)