The Arab summit concluded yesterday by pledging financial and political support for the Palestinians but failed to reconcile Iraq and Kuwait, the issue which dominated the two-day meeting.
The 22 rulers approved a proposal to transfer $240 million in emergency aid to the Palestinians and welcomed Iraq's offer to provide 1 billion euros ($889 million) in spite of its rejection by the UN Security Council.
The summit endorsed the Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese demand for "Israel's withdrawal from all Arab lands occupied since 1967" and said that this formula should be the basis of a "just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East."
The rulers deplored Washington's veto of Tuesday's Security Council resolution calling for an international protection force for the Palestinians and demanded that Israeli "war criminals" be put on trial.
The rulers mandated Damascus to reactivate the office for the Arab boycott of Israel and firms which deal with Israel and endorsed a freeze on the opening of new diplomatic or economic ties with the Jewish state.
While the summit issued its first call for the lifting of sanctions on Iraq, the country's Foreign Minister, Mr Muhammad Said al-Sahaf, complained that the summit was "a failure. Our requests were not met." Iraq had asked the leaders unilaterally to lift sanctions, propose an end to the US-UK "no- fly zones" covering most of the country and resume regular air traffic.
Baghdad might have achieved these demands if it had agreed to the proposal put forward by the "goodwill committee" for ending the Iraq-Kuwait rift caused by Baghdad's 1990 occupation of the emirate. This required the two sides to respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity and asked Iraq to complete all its commitments under UN resolutions, including the return of Kuwaiti prisoners and the destruction of weapons of mass destruction. When Iraq did not affirm the text during the closing session, it was dropped.
After the summit, Mr al-Sahaf claimed, unconvincingly, that it was "Kuwait, not Iraq, which rejected" the proposal. The Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, denied the Iraqi allegations.
Jordan's King Abdullah was asked to carry on with consultations "on the situation between Iraq and Kuwait".
The rulers appointed Egyptian Foreign Minister Mr Amr Moussa as the new secretary general of the Arab League. The next summit will take place in Lebanon in 2002.
