Arab summit backs Palestinians

Yasser Arafat won increased support at the summit

Arab leaders meeting in Jordan ended their summit with pledges of more financial support for the Palestinians, but failed to agree a common position on Iraq.

The 22 members of the Arab League promised to release $240m in additional emergency aid over the next six months to the Palestinians, who have been bankrupted by the uprising against Israel.

They also began steps towards reviving an economic boycott of Israel - a move which the Israelis described as an obstacle to peace.

The Iraqis blamed Kuwait for lack of progress

But efforts to narrow the differences between Iraq and Kuwait failed.

Correspondents say the summit had been working on a compromise whereby Iraq would have reaffirmed its recognition of Kuwait's borders, and settled the issue of Kuwaiti prisoners of war, in return for Arab support for an end to United Nations sanctions against Iraq.

Further discussions planned

Iraq has been subject to an international embargo since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

The League's Secretary-General, Esmat Abdel-Meguid, interrupted a live broadcast of the summit's final session to announce that the delegates had been unable to agree on Iraq.

He said there would be further discussions with Iraq and Kuwait to try to resolve their differences, headed by King Abdullah of Jordan.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Muhammad Said al Sahhaf called the summit a "failure" and blamed Kuwait for the lack of progress.

But in a separate statement, dubbed the Amman Declaration, participants pledged to work towards the lifting of sanctions on Iraq.

Reconciliation

The Jordanian Foreign Minister, Abdel Ilah al Khatib, said it was important that the summit had discussed "all the details" of the conflict for the first time.

As well as demonstrating Arab backing for the six-month-old Palestinian intifada or uprising, the summit also saw reconciliation between Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, and the Syrian leadership.

The two sides have been divided for years over their policies towards Israel.

The meeting reiterated support for a UN-backed observer force to protect the Palestinians, despite United States opposition to the plan.

US veto

Mr Abdel-Meguid said he was "dismayed" by Washington's stance.

On Tuesday evening, the US vetoed the deployment of such a force.

It was the first "no" vote in the UN Security Council for four years.

The meeting appointed the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Amr Moussa, as its new secretary-general to replace Mr Abdel-Meguid, a fellow Egyptian, when his mandate expires in May.