“I don’t think the issue pertains to an inter-civilization conflict. We have to mention the issue in its real perspective - it is a battle against Islam,” Mussa said at the opening session of the Arab Parliamentary Union (APU) conference at the Dead Sea resort in Jordan.

“I urge you to send a message to the United Nations that it should address this issue in a strict manner in order we can deal in future with each other on bases that exclude double standards,” he added.

Mussa referred to caricatures published for the first time by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September and since reprinted by several papers in Europe and elsewhere.

The cartoons, widely considered by Muslims as sacrilegious to the Prophet, drew sharp reactions throughout the Islamic world that culminated in torching Danish and other western diplomatic missions in several countries.

“If it was a conflict among civilizations it could be resolved on the basis of the alliance of civilizations as proposed by the prime ministers of Spain and Turkey. But it is not the case,” Mussa said.

He alluded to a joint proposal by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan that was submitted to a conference in Qatar over the weekend.

The meeting, which sought a solution for the cartoons crisis, was attended by Mussa, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the foreign ministers of Spain and Turkey and others.

Mussa said that he could not separate the cartoons issue from other political problems facing Arab and Islamic countries, particularly the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Jerusalem issue and efforts under way to “direct wedges among Muslims themselves”, an allusion to the latest flareup between Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis.

“It needs first a dialogue among ourselves and afterwards a dialogue between us and those who lead this conflict against Islam,” the Arab League chief said.

Speakers during the opening session lashed out at those who stood behind the cartoons and questioned the validity of arguments that they were published under the principle of freedom of expression.

“Our sentiments and conscience have been shocked by that unjust offence which targeted our Prophet,” said Speaker of the Jordanian lower house of parliament, Abdul Hadi Majali, who opened the meeting on behalf of King Abdullah.

“Our shock exacerbated by the notion that the offence was conducted under the pretext of freedom of expression,” he added.

Statement of a UN legislation that bans offences to prophets was high on the agenda of the two-day APU meeting.

Other key topics include enactment of UN laws for fighting terrorism, trying to find solutions for the feuds between Syria and Lebanon, helping Iraq to spur political process and extending a hand to the radical Palestinian group Hamas, following its landslide victory in last month’s elections, conference sources said.