KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, April 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) ended its latest special session with categorizing Israeli attacks against Palestinians as “state terrorism” and discussing the possibility of implementing oil sanctions against Israel.

"We have re-iterated that terrorism has no particular face or image and cannot be linked to any group of people, religion or culture," Malaysia's Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who chaired the conference, said Wednesday, April 3.

"The Israeli military action clearly demonstrates the practice of state terrorism," he added.

"We urge the international community to assume its responsibility in putting an end to the Israeli military aggression and to call for the immediate and total withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the occupied territories," Albar said.

OIC delegates said it was important to differentiate between the legitimate political struggle of Palestinians, which Muslim nations wholeheartedly support, and terror acts committed by Israeli aggressors.

Albar insisted the organization succeeded in its mission of defining terrorism during the three-day meeting.

At the start of the meeting Monday, April 1, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said all attacks against civilians must be considered acts of terrorism.

"Whether the attackers are acting on their own or on the orders of their government; whether they are regulars or irregulars, if the attack is against civilians, then they must be considered terrorists," Mahathir said.

Iraq and Iran urged Arab nations and Muslim oil-producing countries Tuesday, April 2, to launch a concerted oil embargo to help force Israel out of occupied Palestinian territory. 

Iraqi Foreign Minister Dr. Naji Sabri said Arab countries had agreed on a common policy to put pressure on Israel and those who stand behind it, the OIC press release said. 

“This is because Israel is threatening to destroy Palestine by staging a major terrorism campaign against it. This jeopardizes peace and security in the Arab world,” he said. 

He added, however, that it was up to oil-producing countries to impose the sanctions. 

But, he said, in general terms, the Arab world has the right to co-ordinate policies and efforts to “stand by our brothers and to defend them.” 

“The Israeli threat is not just designed against Palestine but against the whole Arab world,” Sabri told reporters Tuesday outside the closed-door meeting of the foreign ministers at the Palace of Golden Horses hotel.

At a press conference earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said that if Islamic countries decided to use oil as a weapon against Israel, it would be very effective. 

“The Islamic countries have enough instruments to impose such sanctions, depending on the collective voice of this conference,” he said.  

Indonesian Justice and Human Rights Minister Prof. Dr. Yusril Ihza said, however, the use of oil sanctions against Israel was quite impossible without a consensus among oil-producing nations. 

An oil embargo was last used by Arab nations in 1973 prior to the Arab victorious war over Israel, and that boosted oil prices and severely hit the economies of Western countries. 

As the U.S. and other developed nations are struggling to lift themselves out of the current economic downturn, a jump in oil prices will have severe implications on these economies.

Of the 57 OIC member nations, 51 out of 57 member nations attended the three-day conference.

The meeting -- originally called to define terrorism and prevent "Muslim bashing" in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks -- was in danger of being overrun by the developing conflict in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians.

The OIC meeting in Malaysia discussed Tuesday the possibility of implementing oil sanctions against Israel to pressure it to stop its military aggression against Palestinians.