Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has initiated an extensive relief campaign to extend assistance to the beleaguered people of Lebanon and Palestine, OIC Secretary General Ekmeledin Ihsanoglu said here on Thursday.

The OIC General Secretariat has opened a bank account on July 23, 2006 in cooperation with the Islamic Development Bank and other financial institutions for raising financial donations from member nations and other Muslim institutions and individuals, Ihsanoglu said at an emergency meeting of OIC member countries held in Malaysia.

The General Secretariat has already sent a circular note to allOIC member states and request their donations to this account, Ihsanoglu said in a statement issued at the meeting held in Putrajaya, administrative center of the Malaysian government.

The staff of the General Secretariat has donated part of their monthly salaries to the campaign, Ihsanoglu said, urging member nations to open separate accounts in their own countries to ease the collection of donations from their citizens.

He expressed satisfaction over the exemplary action taken by many OIC members to provide relief assistance for Palestinian and Lebanese peoples.

He hoped that the campaign would help remedy the wounds in Palestine and Lebanon.

Meanwhile, at the emergency meeting, the OIC secretary general reiterated OIC's strong condemnation and denunciation of the ruthless Israeli operations against lebanon and Palestine.

"Israeli aggressions have defied all norms and flouted international laws and conventions, " He said, adding "what they are doing amounts to war crimes that target innocent civilians, killing hundreds of people and utterly destroying the basic infrastructure of both the Lebanese State and the Palestinian State."

He called for a comprehensive approach to the solution of the problems of the Middle East in order to root out the cause of tension provoked by the Israeli occupation of some territories of Arab and Palestinian countries.

State or government leaders, foreign ministers or special envoys of 18 OIC member countries, were also attending the meeting, including Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.