Muslim leaders strongly criticised Israel as the Islamic summit in Tehran drew to a close yesterday and they condemned terrorism in the name of Islam.
Their Tehran Declaration, which denounced the Jewish state for its occupation of Arab land, "expansionist policies" and "state terrorism", made no mention of US-brokered Middle East peace efforts.
The omission was a nod to Iran, which has decried the peace process as unjust to Palestinians. It also reflected Arab and Muslim frustration at Washington's seeming inability or unwillingness to change Israel's tough stance.
Leaders of the 55-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) declared their "resolve and determination to regain the Holy City of Al-Quds [Jerusalem] and al-Aqsa mosque and to restore the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people . . ."
But the conference's final hours were marred by wrangling over the venue of the next summit, the need for a foreign ministers' meeting in March and the wording of a reference to Iran's hardline leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Iranian President, Mr Mohammad Khatami, said in a closing address issued to the media he was delighted that "significant resolutions decisively condemning the Zionist regime for its policies were adopted".
The declaration condemned terrorism "while distinguishing terrorism from the struggle of peoples against colonial or alien domination or foreign occupation".
Mr Khatami held a 25-minute meeting with the Iraqi Deputy President, Mr Taha Yassin Ramadan, the highest-level contact since the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. Mr Ramadan said the two countries had agreed to hold more talks on disputes that include prisoners of war, Iraqi planes sent to Iran in the 1990 Gulf crisis, Iraqi support for Iranian dissidents and Iran's backing of rebel Iraqi Kurds.
The summit urged Muslim states to sever military links with Israel and respect Iraq's territorial integrity. Two Turkish-sponsored resolutions on Syria's alleged support for Kurdish rebels and Greece's treatment of its Turkish minority were blocked.
Delegates said Egypt objected to an agreement to hold the next summit in three years' time in Qatar, which has accused Cairo of backing a coup attempt in the emirate last year. However, Egypt eventually accepted Qatar's nomination.