DOHA, April 28, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Muslim and Christian clerics, joined by Jewish rabbis, ended the fourth edition of an inter-faith dialogue in Qatar Thursday, April 27, with a call for United Nations action to ban blasphemy and offenses to religious symbols.

Participants in the three-day forum "call for the respect of religious sanctities and symbols, affirming that respect for sanctities does not clash with the right to (free) expression," they said in a closing statement carried by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"The participants look to the issuing of international legislation by the United Nations that would call for the respect of religions and declare any insult to their symbols to be a crime," the statement said.

The participants also declared that religions have nothing to do with "terrorist acts" carried out by "fanatics."

The call, one of 10 recommendations adopted by the conference, follows a crisis sparked by the publication of cartoons that lampooned Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) in European papers, which infuriated Muslims around the world.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner have suggested that the EU and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) co-draft a UN resolution on religious tolerance.

The OIC and the Arab League, the Muslim world's main political bodies, are seeking a UN resolution, backed by possible sanctions, to protect religions against blasphemy.

Huntzinger said the workshop aims at "countering the risk of the development of misunderstandings, prejudices and fear among peoples and civil societies."

France announced on the sidelines of the conference the launch of a "cultural workshop" starting in September in a bid to promote understanding between the West and the Islamic world.

The workshop, which is the brainchild of French President Jacques Chirac, will hold its first session in Paris on September 13-15, ambassador-at-large Jacques Huntzinger told AFP.

Huntzinger said the workshop aims at "countering the risk of the development of misunderstandings, prejudices and fear among peoples and civil societies" on the two banks of the Mediterranean.

According to a presentation of the project, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, the second session will be held in the Spanish city of Seville February 7-9, 2007 and the third in the Egyptian port of Alexandria in June next year.

Participants in the "dialogue of peoples and cultures" will come from non- governmental organizations although organizers will seek the support of the governments concerned.

"The platform must be given to historians, educators, researchers and new thinkers on both banks. With the help of the media, satellite channels and the Internet, they will know how to fight stereotypes," the document says.

The series of workshops will be open to Arab countries of the Maghreb, Levant and Gulf, in addition to modern-day Israel, Turkey and member states of the European Union.

Themes to be debated will range from the role of media to the relationship between society and religion in secular systems and those based on Shari`ah. 

Earlier this month, Spain urged the West to engage in a more constructive dialogue with the Muslim world to promote mutual understanding.

Seeking to repair damages caused by the cartoons, Denmark, whose mass-circulation daily Jyllands Posten first published the odious cartoons in September, is planning to boost its spending on Middle East relations by up to 20 percent.

Doha also played host in February to the second conference of the UN-sponsored Alliance of Civilizations, which urged action not talk to bridge the yawning gap between the Muslim world and the West in the wake of the cartoons crisis.