The Organization of Islamic Conference's (OIC) special meeting on the Middle East began at Putrajaya Convention Center on Thursday amid raging violence, claiming thousands of lives in the region.

Malaysian Prime Minister and Chair of the 57-member OIC, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, opened the one-day meeting attended by foreign ministers and ambassadors of 13 member states.

They are Qatar, Malaysia, Senegal, Sudan, Iran, Turkey, Guinea,Pakistan, Palestine, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Indonesia.

Abdullah expressed the hope that OIC would find ways to resolvethe Palestinian and Iraqi conflicts.

OIC, consisting of 57 Islamic countries the worldwide, was set up in 1970 to boost political, economic and social cooperation among member states and support the justice struggle by the Palestinians.

All sessions at this special meeting would be closed-door except the opening and closing ceremonies.

The meeting will discuss the Palestine conflict in the morning and the Iraqi crisis in the afternoon.

The meeting is expected to issue a declaration on Palestine, calling on Israel to respect international law, and come up with astatement on Iraq, urging the United Nations to play a pivotal role to restore peace and stability in the war-torn country.

Source: Xinhua