A two-day emergency summit to discuss the violence in the Middle East ended yesterday with a surge of Arab rhetoric against Israel and in support of the Palestinians, but without tough measures to put pressure on the Jewish state.
Putting the blame for the three weeks of violence, in which 117 Palestinians and eight Israelis have died, squarely on Israel's shoulders, the leaders of the 22 member-states of the Arab League berated Israel for its "barbarism" towards the Palestinians and said it was "responsible for returning the region to an atmosphere of tension and violence due to its practices, aggression and complete siege of the Palestinian people".
But stronger denunciations voiced during the debate, particularly from Iraq and Yemen, both of which called for a jihad, or holy war, to "liberate Palestine", did not find their way into the summit's final declaration.
Instead, after several drafts and many hours of behind-the-scenes discussion, it called for a United Nations investigation into the causes of the violence, an apparent rejection of the American-led investigating committee established at last week's Sharm al-Sheikh summit.
It also called for the UN to set up a war crimes tribunal, similar to those used to prosecute war criminals in Rwanda and Yugoslavia, to try Israelis for what it described as the "massacres" perpetrated on the Palestinians. In addition, it asked the UN to form an international force to protect Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.
Finally, it announced the establishment of a $1 billion fund for them. Two hundred million dollars, of which Saudi Arabia has already pledged $50 million, will go to the Jerusalem Intifada Fund, which will provide financial help to the families of Palestinians killed or wounded in the violence with Israel.
The remaining $800 million is to go towards the Al-Aqsa fund for protecting what the document described as the "Arab and Islamic character" of East Jerusalem. All Arabs are asked to donate one day's pay to the funds.
However, the communique stopped short of cutting all ties with Israel, or reinstating an economic boycott of the Jewish state, both of which have been demanded by angry street protesters throughout the Arab world. Instead, it declared that Arab countries may individually consider severing links with Israel but did not call upon them to do so.
Tunisia immediately announced yesterday it was closing a liaison office in Tel Aviv and shutting down Israel's office in Tunis. Most other countries with similar low-level ties have already cut links with the Jewish state.
The diplomatic sleight-of-hand allowed Egypt and Jordan, the only two Arab countries with full diplomatic relations with Israel, to maintain their stance that negotiations are the only way to bring peace to the region. It also helped them avoid raising the ire of their US ally, which has been intensively lobbying to keep the two-day summit from taking strong action against Israel.
Reaction to the summit's moderate stance began on Saturday, when Libya walked out of the conference hall, angry that the delegates would not back a collective severing of ties with Israel.
Yesterday, response from around the Middle East ranged from condemnation by radical Palestinian and Islamist groups to relief by the Israeli government that the declaration had not gone further.
The latter will not endear moderate Arab leaders to their angry public and it remains to be seen if more radical grassroots action will be taken. In Egypt, an informal boycott of Israeli and US products has already begun.