Assad and Arafat 'forget' past enmity

Arab leaders are trying to forge consensus on Iraq

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have met on the sidelines of the summit of Arab leaders in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

It was the first formal meeting between Syrian and Palestinian officials since the signing of the Oslo accord in 1993.

The meeting between Arafat and Assad ends eight years of tension

Also at the summit, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that the world had every right to criticise Israel for occupying Arab land and for its "excessively harsh response" to a Palestinian uprising, but warned that violence was not the answer.

Mr Annan also urged Iraq to co-operate with, not confront its neighbours, amid Arab calls for the lifting of sanctions against Iraq.

Also at the summit, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi proposed that Israel should join the 22-member Arab League, but under certain conditions.

"All the Palestinians must return to the occupied territories, Israel must agree to eliminate weapons of mass destruction and solve the question of Jerusalem," Colonel Gaddafi was quoted as saying.

The summit coincides with a dramatic rise in tension in Israel and the Palestinian areas. Two bombs went off in Jerusalem and a Palestinian youth was shot dead in Hebron on Tuesday, following the shooting of an Israeli baby in Hebron on Monday.

Forgetting the past

Mr Assad and Mr Arafat met for 45 minutes at a hotel next door to the summit conference hall.

Jordan's King Abdullah called for an end to sanctions in Iraq

In a speech to the summit President Assad had signalled the reconciliation.

"We offer our hands to our Palestinian brothers and tell them we stand beside them in the service of the Palestinian cause," Mr Assad said.

"Let's forget the past," he went on.

Mr Assad's late father, Hafez al-Assad, considered the Palestinian leader a traitor to the Arab cause for signing the 1993 Declaration of Principles, based on the Oslo talks with Israel.

Ending Iraqi suffering

At the opening session go the summit, King Abdullah of Jordan told the gathered leaders that it was time to end what he called the inconceivable suffering of the Iraqi people.

The Iraqi leadership will achieve more through co-operation with its neighbours, rather than through confrontation

Kofi Annan

Mr Annan accepted that the Arab world believed the international community used double standards to punish Iraqi and Israeli violations of Security Council resolutions.

But he added that the Iraqi leadership would achieve much more through co-operation rather than confronting its neighbours, in particular Kuwait.

Disputes over Iraq threatened to overshadow the meeting, with Baghdad calling for a resolution on ending UN sanctions.

Driven by popular Arab support, Iraq has asked fellow Arab countries not only to demand a lifting of sanctions, but to break them.

Baghdad also wants an end to the US and British imposed no-fly zones.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia remain opposed, insisting on assurances that Iraq is no longer a threat.

Violence not solution

Kofi Annan called for Palestinians and Israelis to get back to talks

Mr Annan called the Israeli closure of the Palestinian territories "collective punishment".

But he reminded Arab leaders that Israel had a right to exist within recognised borders.

"There is no solution to be found in violence, and no sense in postponing the day when the parties return to the table," he said, urging both sides to resume peace talks.

Draft communique

The two-day summit is also intended to show Arab support for the Palestinian uprising against Israel.

The draft communique condemns Israeli security measures and calls for a revival of the Arab boycott to force Israel's new government to return to peace talks.

Arab leaders are also expected to endorse an emergency loan to the Palestinians.

So far they have received only a tiny fraction of the $1bn dollars promised six months ago by a gathering or Arab leaders.