ALGIERS - Arab leaders steered clear of the region's most contentious issues as they wrapped up a summit Wednesday, while their resolution to reactivate a Middle East peace plan was swiftly rejected by Israel.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said in a closing statement that the summit, marred by the absence of several key players, "consolidated the bases of a durable Arab reconciliation".
But maverick Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi upstaged the final session of the summit in Algiers with an unscheduled address describing Israel and the Palestinians as "idiots", leaving his audience in fits of laughter.
The meeting also was marked by the summit's failure to tackle some of the most controversial issues facing their troubled region, including Syria's pullout from Lebanon.
Only 13 heads of states from the 22-member Arab League showed up.
Jordan's King Abdullah II, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and Saudi de facto ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz, were among those absent.
The leaders adopted a declaration echoing the one released at last year's Tunis conference, pledging Arab support for Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians to recover land occupied by Israel.
The statement called on the international community to help back the Arab peace initiative -- a Jordanian proposal based on a Saudi plan submitted and endorsed by the 2002 Beirut summit but spurned by Israel.
Israel was quick to reject the offer, which makes peace conditional on an Israeli pullout from occupied Arab land.
A senior official from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office told AFP the Arabs were trying "to give this illusion of unity on the surface by adopting resolutions that contradict with all of the advances made, particularly by Egypt and Jordan, which is unacceptable."
"The summit proved it is out of touch with reality and in a delicate situation regarding developments in the Arab world," the official added.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani Mulki told AFP that Israel's "quick and negative" reaction looks as if "they are not interested in peace, and we hope this is not the case".
The summit's final declaration made peace with Israel conditional on the creation of an independent Palestinian state and the return of refugees.
"Based on the Arab peace initiative, Arab countries will therefore consider the Arab-Israeli conflict over and will set up normal ties with Israel within the framework of a comprehensive peace," said a copy obtained by AFP.
It reaffirmed "respect for Iraq's unity, sovereignty and independence and non-interference in its domestic affairs" and welcomed its political transition following the historic legislative elections held in January.
It also voiced concern for the civil war in Sudan's western Darfur region, called for emergency humanitarian aid but failed to make any specific commitment.
It likewise condemned "terrorism in all its forms and regardless of its motives and justifications" and says it should not be linked to Islam.
It offerred support for Lebanon and Syria without mentioning a UN Security Council resolution demanding a full Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon and the disarming of militant groups such as Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah.
US Secretary General Kofi Annan, however, made clear he meant business, telling the summit the military pullout should be completed by May and announcing that a new probe could be needed in the murder of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
Hariri's assassination in a massive bomb blast last month, prompted the Lebanese opposition to accuse Syria and its allies in the Lebanese government of responsibility for his death.
The Arabs agreed to set up a parliament and exhorted members of the cash-strapped pan-Arab organisation to pay up their dues, but they announced no measures to sanction those who fail to do so.
The leaders -- who will meet in Khartoum next year -- promised to pursue a a plan for reform announced last year but did not dive details despite incessant appeals from the West to see more democracy in the region.

03/23/2005 14:33 GMT