Gulf Arabs OK plan to combat terrorism

The announcement came at the end of an annual meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council, or 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 Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to take stronger steps against violent Islamists and to reform school curriculums.

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.

Interior ministers will soon sign the treaty, similar to a pact signed by Arab states in 1998, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheik Mohammad al-Sabah said at a news conference.

"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 such as, "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, noting that 15 of the Sept. 11 hijackers were Saudis, have argued such teaching lies behind the anti-Western sentiment that led to terrorist attacks such as those on Sept. 11.

The GCC said the educational reforms were based on a document presented by Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Abdullah, whose country is fighting militant violence linked to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network.

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 two-day summit, convened amid tight security, also discussed steps toward economic integration, including a single currency and common market.

After Libya announced it was giving up plans for nuclear and other banned weapons, the GCC renewed its calls for a Middle East free of all weapons of mass destruction.

It called for Israel to join the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and subject its nuclear facilities to inspections.

The communique made no mention of US calls for governments to lighten Iraq's enormous debt burden, but Gulf officials said the issue was discussed.