Arabs, South Americans back Iraq, Palestinians

BRASILIA, Brazil - South American and Arab countries gave support for the Palestinians in their fight for an independent state but condemned terrorism on Wednesday at the end of the first summit of leaders of the two regions.

A final summit declaration -- seen as having little serious effect other than showing symbolic unity between two regions of the developing world -- offered backing to the new Iraqi government led by Jalal Talabani in its struggle to rebuild the country and defeat insurgents.

Leaders also said the Middle East would only achieve peace and South America would only cut widespread poverty if developing nations resisted the supremacy and hegemony of rich countries and traded among one another.

"It's a declaration that points out the path we must follow if the relation between South America and Arab countries is to be changed forever," said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has led the gathering of 34 nations representing more than 600 million people.

The summit was conceived by Lula as part of his drive to establish Brazil -- the world's fourth largest democracy -- as a diplomatic and economic power and himself as a champion of the developing world and a counter-weight to U.S. dominance.

But the summit's original intent of focusing on growing trade and investment between the regions took a back seat as the Arab nations pushed Middle East politics to the forefront, taking predictable swipes at Israel -- a tactic that appeared to frustrate some Latin American leaders.

"The idea of this meeting was to explore possibilities for trade and investment, not deal with political issues," Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo said. "The importance of this gathering is not what has been said, but the fact that we have finally got together."

Arab leaders said political cooperation was necessary before any future trade pacts.

"How can you have trade and development when you have countries under occupation," said Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah.

Palestinian state a rallying point The rallying point of the final declaration was a demand for the creation of a Palestinian state which it said would coexist peacefully alongside Israel.

Israel should withdraw from all territories occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and dismantle settlements, including those in East Jerusalem, it said. The fate of settlements has been one sticking point an internationally-backed peace plan that the Israelis and Palestinians have agreed to pursue.

The declaration backed the right of states and peoples to resist foreign occupation -- a clause that drew concern from Israel on the grounds that it could tacitly endorse militant anti-Israel groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.

The declaration also condemned terrorism but called for a UN-led conference to define what terrorism was.

But Israel criticized the declaration.

"It will encourage extremists, terrorist groups, its giving them a green light to resist," Israel's ambassador to Brazil, Tzipora Rimon, said.

U.S. officials, however, did not find the declaration disturbing.

"There's no need to interpret the declaration as giving support to terrorism or any group that supports terrorists," a State Department official, who asked not to be named, said.

One analyst saw the summit as having little serious effect.

"It's not clear to me that South American countries are to have any affect on the Arab-Israeli situation, so I don't see much sense in them talking a lot about that," David Mack of the Middle East Institute in Washington told Reuters.

The final declaration gave greater support to Iraq's new government than previous draft copies, calling for more help for the government as it faced "terrorist operations".

Iraqi President Talabani, making his first trip overseas trip as head of state, was one of the star attractions of the summit, giving some comfort to the United States which has seen its relations with Latin America grow more distant in recent years and was denied observer status for the event.

Lula was able to expound again on one of his favorite themes -- the need for a new world trading order and cooperation between poorer nations.

To that end, the declaration called for the next head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to be from a developing nation. It gave backing to Uruguayan Carlos Perez del Castillo who faces Frenchman Pascal Lamy in a decision expected this month on the next WTO leader.

	PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas speaking during the South American-Arab summit in Brazil on Wednesday. (Reuters)