Gulf Arab leaders agree anti-terror measures

Gulf Arab leaders said yesterday they had agreed on new measures to combat terrorism, including purging rhetoric from school textbooks that Washington says fuels anti-Christian and anti-Jewish sentiment.

The announcement came at the end of an annual meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - a political and military alliance grouping heavyweight Saudi Arabia with Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

"Due to the Council's concern to boost security cooperation and coordination to fight terrorism, it blessed the adoption of a treaty to combat terrorism," said the final communique, read out by Secretary-General Abdul Rahman al-Attiya.

The GCC has come under pressure from Washington since the September 11, 2001 attacks to take stronger steps against violent Islamists and to reform school curricula.

Officials said the treaty called for security coordination, exchange of information, strengthening security networks and drying up sources of terrorism as well as educational changes.

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah told a news conference interior ministers will soon sign the treaty, similar to a pact signed by Arab states in 1998.

"It... defines exactly what is terrorism... it also deals directly with the sources of financing and methods of operation we might combat," he added.

The educational reforms include removal from school textbooks of material describing followers of other religions as infidels and enemies of Islam.

Critics say language exercises in Saudi schools have sometimes asked children to complete sentences like "God hates..." - the correct answer being "infidels".

A text used by 13 and 14-year-olds in Saudi Arabia used to enjoin Muslims not to befriend Christians and Jews because "emulation of the infidels leads to loving them". The passage was recently erased.

US officials, pointing out that 15 of the September 11 hijackers were Saudis, have argued such teaching lies behind the anti-Western sentiment that led to attacks like September 11. The GCC said the educational reforms were based on a document presented by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah, whose country is fighting militant violence linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda.

The GCC, which groups four OPEC members, discussed relations with the new Iraq and welcomed the capture of longtime foe Saddam Hussein "as a boost to security and stability".

The GCC announcement came a day after the United States issued a new terrorism alert, warning there was a high risk of attacks in the United States during Christmas and New Year.