Military

DATE=11/12/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISLAMIC / SUMMIT (L-O)

NUMBER=2-269142

BYLINE=DALE GAVLAK

DATELINE=CAIRO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Palestinian President Yasser Arafat says that despite the human loss, his people are determined to continue their uprising against Israeli occupation. Speaking at the Islamic summit in Qatar, Mr. Arafat accused Israel of engineering the violence after he refused to compromise during July's Camp David peace meeting. Dale Gavlak reports from Cairo.

TEXT: President Arafat told the Muslim leaders gathered in the Qatari capital, Doha, that Palestinians yearn for freedom from what he called - the claws of brutal Israeli occupation.

He said that more than 200 Palestinians have died and more than nine-thousand have been injured in nearly seven-weeks of violent clashes with Israeli troops.

He added that the Israeli closure of the Palestinian territories had cost Palestinians more than 900-million-dollars. He said thousands have lost their jobs and Israel has stopped transferring tax revenues from Palestinians to the Palestinian Authority.

Leaders at the world's largest Muslim gathering in three-years began their summit with calls for action against Israel for what they say are its war crimes against Palestinians.

At the start of his speech Iranian President Mohamed Khatami, who heads the group, called Israel a terrorist, racist, Zionist regime. He said the Muslim world needs to do more to support the Palestinians in their struggle.

Mr. Khatami refrained from repeating his plea to cut ties with Israel, although the summit's draft resolution demands the severing of relations with the Jewish state.

President Khatami did not mention the United States by name in his address.

Delegates to the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference said moderates led by Egypt and Turkey helped to tone down criticism of Washington. They also came up with compromise wording that kept anti-Israel rhetoric, but left members free to decide their future relations with the Jewish state.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani told the gathering that there could be no peace in the Middle East without Israel's total withdrawal from Arab land, whether it is Palestinian, Syrian or Lebanese.

He said Israel must choose between the possibility of living in peace in the Middle East or the continuation of this struggle for decades.

U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan told the group not to promote violence and hatred during its three-day meeting in Doha. He said a way must be found to end the violence and killing. He added that peace couldn't come about by encouraging violence and perpetuating mistrust. He urged the fostering of cooperation and dialogue between the two sides.

Violent clashes, sparked by a visit by Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon to a Jerusalem holy site, have brought the Middle East peace process to a standstill. (SIGNED)

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