TEHRAN Iranian President Mohammad Khatami called Sunday for "resolute action" and proposed a Middle East peace plan at the outset of an Islamic summit aimed at uniting the Muslim world behind the Palestinians in their conflict with Israel.
The Iranian vision of a four-point plan unveiled in the Qatari capital was centered on a multi-faith state in the former Palestine before the creation of Israel in 1948.
Khatami called for the "return of all Palestinian refugees to Palestine" and a democratic referendum of the original Muslim, Jewish and Christian inhabitants to decide on a future form of government.
The aim would be to establish a democratic Palestinian state over the whole of historical Palestine with Al-Qods as its capital, he said. The independent state would have the right to decide who lives there.
Iran is a fierce opponent of the U.S.-brokered Middle East peace process which now lies in tatters and it refuses to recognize Israel.
Khatami, as outgoing president of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) at its ninth summit, urged the 56 members to take "resolute action" to punish Israel for its killings of Palestinians in his keynote address.
"Astonishingly, while the oppressed nation of Palestine, especially its youth and children, has emerged from the crucible of its struggle triumphantly, Islamic countries have yet to meet the expectations of the ummah (Muslim world)," he warned.
The Palestinian uprising that has cost more than 200 lives over the past six weeks, mostly Palestinian, required "serious and effective strategies to face aggression and occupation," said the Iranian president.
He hailed "The heroic resistance of the children of the Muslim and Arab ummah against suppression and bullying of the terrorist racist Zionist regime." Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, urged Islamic leaders to draw up a common strategy to help the Palestinians.
"We say to the world that the Middle East conflict will not end until the withdrawal of Israel from all Palestinian territories, Golan and Lebanese territories," said Sheikh Hamad, whose country is to take over as OIC president.
He also called for an end to the "harsh suffering that has afflicted the brotherly Iraqi people as a result of the (UN) sanctions" in force since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Despite Kuwait's liberation, "the crisis is still looming before U.S. and is continuing to cast its heavy shadows on the security and stability of this region," said Sheikh Hamad.
The dominant issue on the summit agenda remains the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Islamic leaders to consider proposals by foreign ministers for a punitive break in relations with Israel.
A special session devoted to the "serious conditions" in the Palestinian territories was scheduled for later Sunday.
While Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat was in Doha for the summit after talks in the United States and at the United Nations, it was Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's turn to meet U.S. President Bill Clinton later Sunday.
A draft resolution to be submitted to leaders of the world's 1.2 Muslims "invites" Islamic countries, notably in Africa, to break with Israel for alleged war crimes.
The draft drawn up by foreign ministers calls for an "international tribunal to judge Israeli war criminals" and commits OIC states to recognize an independent Palestinian state once declared.
Egypt, Turkey and Jordan are among countries that have not cut off ties with the Zionist regime. Twenty-six countries were to be represented by their heads of state, whereas Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and Moroccan King Mohamed VI, both of whose countries have rocky ties with Qatar, were among the notably absentees.
Somalia, with a new president, was taking part for the first time in a decade.
Held under tight security at a seafront hotel, the summit was also to debate the civil war in Afghanistan, the Kashmir conflict, Kosovo and Chechnya.
As the summit opened a lone hijacker diverted a Russian airliner to Israel before surrendering in an incident which Israeli officials said was linked to the Chechen conflict.
Also, more than 400 Syrian academics, writers and journalists called on the Islamic conference that opened Sunday in Doha to use oil as a way to cut U.S. and European support for Israel.
"We are asking you to exercise efficient pressure by using the oil weapon against the United States and Europe to bring them to more just positions concerning the Palestinian cause," they said in a statement.
They called on Arabs to take a common position toward Washington, "which continues a policy that disregards the Palestinian people's rights and proclaims its complete support for Israel's racist and Nazi actions in Palestine while committing all sorts of murders and destruction in Iraq." The 411 signatories also urged Arab and Islamic leaders to implement "a complete economic boycott of Israel and a break in all diplomatic and political relations." UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan also addressing the OIC session called for Baghdad "to review its position with a view to cooperating with the international community." "The Iraqi leadership will achieve more through cooperation with the international community, including its neighbors, than through confrontation," said Annan, who was among high-profile observers invited to address the summit.
Baghdad has rejected a UN Security Council resolution that offers a suspension of sanctions in force since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait in return for its cooperation with a new disarmament regime.
"I deeply regret the continuing suffering of the Iraqi people and share the hopes of everyone present here that the sanctions imposed on Iraq can be lifted sooner rather than later," said Annan.
On the Afghan conflict, the secretary general appealed to the country's powerful neighbors Iran and Pakistan "to work even more closely together toward the noble aim of achieving peace." "The United Nations will continue to make every effort in the search for a negotiated and peaceful solution between the warring parties in Afghanistan," he said.
Envoys of both President Burhanuddin Rabbani and the Taleban militia which seized power in Kabul in 1996 were present at the conference, but not as delegates, as the Afghan seat has remained vacant for the past four years.
In the meantime, the Istanbul-based daily Akit wrote on Sunday that Israel is using Turkish airbases to attack Palestinian city of Gaza.
Quoting a Turkish MP, the daily said that according to the accord signed between the two countries, Israeli and Turkish aircrafts are only allowed to use each other's air spaces for training.
However, the Israelis are violate the accord and Turkey is supporting the Zionist regime.
The Virtue Party member of the Parliament further in his remarks asked Turkey to stop providing facilities to the Israeli air forces to attack Palestinian targets.