BRASILIA, May 11: The first South American-Arab League summit issued a final declaration on Wednesday recognizing “the right of peoples to resist foreign occupation,” in a veiled reference to the Palestinian cause that had worried Israel and the United States. The two groups stressed that they “reaffirm the need for a realization of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people ... and for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on 1967 borders existing alongside the state of Israel.”

They also called on Israel “to pull out of all occupied Arab territories (and return) to 1967 lines,” and urged “the dismantlement of settlements, including those in East Jerusalem.” The declaration also criticised US sanctions against Syria. The statement supported Iraq’s new government and condemned “terrorist operations targeting civilians, infrastructure and the democratic process.”

It also underscored the “importance of respecting the unity, sovereignty and independence of Iraq and not interfering in its domestic affairs.” The meeting moved to signal support for Uruguay’s Carlos Perez del Castillo to become the next head of the World Trade Organization.

Host President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the 22 Arab League members and 12 members from South America had unanimously decided to support a candidate for the WTO leadership from “a developing country”. Lula did not name a candidate, but Perez del Castillo is the only candidate against Pascal Lamy, the former European Union trade commissioner from France.

Israeli diplomatic sources in Brasilia said they were not surprised by the Arab use of the gathering to speak out on the Middle East.

“There is no international gathering in which Arabs participate where they do not take advantage to promote their demands,” an Israeli source said.

In return, South American nations, which have greater economic motivations, secured references in the statement encouraging the development of trade and investment.

Among the bilateral meetings, Venezuela’s left-wing president, Hugo Chavez, held talks with Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, current head of the Arab League.

Brazil’s president also held talks with leaders from Bahrain, Djibouti, Peru and other countries.

Lula ordered his industry minister, Luiz Fernando Furlan, to organize a demonstration of two hybrid cars — using petrol and ethanol made from sugar cane — for the Algerian leader.

“Lula explained the system yesterday to Mr Bouteflika, but he had doubts about whether it would work,” said the minister. “We are going to put the ethanol in under his eyes — it will be the Doubting Thomas’s test — so that he can see it is really alcohol.”

Saudi Arabia has invited those taking part in Brasilia to a meeting in Riyadh of oil producing and consuming countries later in the year. And trade figured prominently on the summit agenda.

Furlan said he expected Brazil alone to nearly double its trade with Arab League nations in the next three years, from eight billion dollars to 15 billion dollars.

South American and Arab leaders also in their statement urged Britain and Argentina to renew negotiations so that a fair, lasting and peaceful settlement is reached on the disputed Falkland islands. Argentina claims the British-ruled archipelago, which it calls the Malvinas.

Though only five heads of state from the 22 Arab League nations turned up at the summit, Argentine sources said a meeting of foreign ministers from the two regions would be held in Argentina in 2007, with a full summit in Morocco in 2008.

Most countries in the Americas have immigrant communities of Lebanese, Palestinians, Syrians and people of other Arab origins, and their influence in local business communities and politics has grown in past decades.—AFP