Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammed today warned that if the United States invades Iraq it would create a flow of fresh terrorist recruits.

Muslims have been branded by the west as potential terrorists and penalised and humiliated when they travelled abroad in the wake of Sept 11, 2001, Mahathir said in a front-page interview with the Times of Oman.

"There is an imperative need for greater efforts by the international Muslim community to see a peaceful resolution to all conflicts, including security tensions," he told the Muscat daily.

"The real dilemma is nothing but a clash of civilisations, especially between the west and Islam", he said in the interview given in Kuala Lumpur.

The prime minister questioned why the West did not seek to unearth the real causes of terrorism and eliminate them, deploring that many intellectual voices have been ignored on the subject.

"Forcing Western political agendas and values on other cultures is not desirable. The arrogance of power must be eliminated. The use of force should never be considered as a solution to avert terrorism," Mahathir said.

Address root causes

He was pessimistic for the future of the Palestinians, noting that the United States supports Israel despite the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories.

"Unless the root causes are realistically addressed I do not foresee any changes in the Middle East in the immediate future".

Mahathir called on the Muslim world to do more.

"As the world faces mounting challenges, the international Muslim community should come forward to help in promoting stability and enhancing the sharing of prosperity," he said.

"We would like to benefit from the process of globalisation and liberalisation. Muslim countries should come out more closer and initiate integration of their economies and solve political and economic problems to spur growth.

"We would like to trade more, open up markets and enjoy higher incomes and increased welfare that globalisation is supposed to deliver," Mahathir underlined.

The Malaysian prime minister has sided with the West in the campaign against terrorism, although he frequently criticises its conduct.

Mahathir has announced that he will retire from politics in October 2003, after leading his multiracial, multireligious Southeast Asian nation for 22 years. AFP