HEADING HEADLONG INTO THE DAY!

Jordan to Host Iraqi Islamic Reconciliation Conference

Associated Press

AMMAN, Jordan - In a bid to end sectarian violence in Iraq, religious leaders from the country's Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish communities will gather for talks in Jordan later this month, said a statement issued Wednesday by a Jordanian Islamic group.

The one-day conference, to be held April 22, is "an important and radical step to end violence in Iraq and consolidate its unity and stability," said the statement from the Aal al-Bayt Foundation for Islamic Thought.

"Those goals would not be realized without reaching a political solution to end inter-fighting in Iraq, which also cannot be achieved without understanding and reconciliation between the different concerned factions," said the statement, which was faxed to The Associated Press.

The statement said Jordan's King Abdullah II, who led efforts to hold the reconciliation conference, will join the religious leaders and tribal heads in their call for an end to violence and religious tension in the war-torn country.

The statement did not disclose names of the Iraqi participants.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the grand sheik of Egypt's Al-Azhar, the foremost Islamic institution in the Sunni Muslim world, are expected to address the gathering.

Scholars from different Arab and Muslim countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey, will also take part.

"The Iraqi Islamic Reconciliation and Accordance conference aims not only at eliminating the tensions. ... It will pave the road to achieve a last political solution in Iraq," the statement said.

Aal al-Bayt, a semi-independent think tank, was established in 1980 by the late King Hussein and dedicated to discussing challenges facing Islam.

Sectarian violence and mass killings between Sunnis and Shiites erupted in Iraq after the Feb. 22 bombing of an important Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad.

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...a second source.

Jordan to host Iraqi Islamic reconciliation summit
Amman, April 5 (Petra) --

Under the patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah II, a large number of senior Iraqi religious and tribal leaders- both Sunnis and Shi'is, Arab and Kurds- will gather in Amman on April 22, 2006 from the Iraqi Islamic Reconciliation Summit. The meeting, organized in cooperation between Aal al- Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought and the Arab League, will provide a form for Iraqi leaders to take a crucial step towards stemming the violence in Iraq.

During the summit, King Abdullah will join the delegates in a call for an end to bloodshed and religious tension in Iraq. The summit is expected to culminate in a signed declaration stating that fighting between Shi'is and Sunnis has no legitimate religious basis.

The Iraqi Islamic Reconciliation Summit is necessary to help bring the violence in Iraq to an end, establish a stable and fully representative Iraqi government and permit a peaceful and orderly withdrawal of coalition troops.

Peace in Iraq cannot be achieved without a political solution, and a political solution cannot, in return, be achieved without a religious solution because fighting in Iraq has generally occurred along religious sectarian lines, especially among Iraq's Arab Muslim communities.

The Iraqi Reconciliation Summit thus seeks to alleviate religious tensions by asserting fundamental principles that are shared by all Muslims. As such, it could constitute a critical step in defusing civil tension and helping to clear the way for a final and permanent political solution in Iraq.

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