Arab leaders blast Israel as Mideast clashes rage

11:30 AM

GAZA STRIP – More violence has erupted between Palestinians and Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip and West Bank on a "day of rage" called to coincide with the Arab summit which opened last night (9pm NZT) in Cairo.

At least four Palestinians, three of them teenagers, were killed and scores of protesters were wounded as emotions ran high following the funerals of nine protesters who were killed in street battles the day before.

A 13-year-old boy who was shot in the head was among the wounded in one the of fiercest clashes, near a Jewish settlement close to Khan Younis in Gaza, Palestinian medics said.

At the summit, Arab leaders decried Israeli "barbarism" against the Palestinians.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat promised his people would keep struggling until "victory".

"Our people of the holy Intifada (uprising)...have made a pledge to every Arab, Muslim and Christian in this world that they will continue their struggle with all legitimate means until we achieve victory," he said.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, hosting the first such gathering since 1996, denounced Israel's "belligerent attitude" towards the Palestinians but stressed that Arabs had a historic duty to attempt once again to salvage the peace process.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the summit: "As we strive for peace, Israel is striving for war. We chose peace as a strategic option. For Israel it was a tactic."

The leaders agreed to demand a UN war crimes tribunal to try Israelis responsible for "massacres", according to a draft communique.

"Arab countries will pursue under international law those behind these barbaric practices and demand that the Security Council form an international criminal court exclusively to try Israeli war criminals who committed these massacres," the draft summit communique said.

Egyptian state television said the Arab leaders broke off for dinner after nine hours of talks and would discuss the communique further tomorrow before signing it.

It is expected to declare that Arab states halt further normalisation of relations with Israel and suspend Arab participation in multilateral talks on regional economic cooperation.

Libya, represented only by its Arab League ambassador, walked out of the meeting in protest at the planned communique, saying the Arabs had failed to cut ties with Israel as a minimal protest against the violence.

"The Libyan delegation concluded that the Arab summit being held in Cairo at present will not take any practical measures that will deter the aggressive Israeli practices," said a Libyan statement, clearly prepared well ahead of the walkout.

At least 121 people have now been killed since clashes erupted on September 28, and a U.S.- brokered agreement reached in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday shows no sign of ending the fighting.

Almost all of the dead have been Palestinians or Israeli Arabs and more than one in five were aged 18 or under.

Israeli officials have accused Palestinian President Yasser Arafat of deliberately fanning the violence to try to toughen the Arab summit's line against the Jewish state.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution late on Friday in New York admonishing Israel for "excessive use of force" during the clashes.

Israel later rejected the decision as one-sided.

New Zealand was one of 46 countries who abstained from voting.

- REUTERS

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