Arab summit comes to an end

March 24, 2005 leaders ended their Wednesday with no new initiatives for peace with Israel. The summit, held in Algeria, coincided with the 60th anniversary of the Arab League.

The summit rejected Jordan's plan to normalise relations with Israel by instead sticking to the 2002 peace plan. That plan promised to normalise relations only after an Israeli withdrawal from, the creation of a Palestinian state, and the settlement of Palestinian refugees.

The summit announced the creation of an Arab Parliament to be based in the Syrian capital of Damascus. It will contain four members from each of the 22 Arab League states.

Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi, the longest serving Arab leader at the meeting, caused tensions by telling the Palestinian delegation he thought both "Palestinians and Israelis are stupid." He also reiterated his call for a single state solution, saying "the solution I think is to have a single state. We cannot have two states." He also addressed terrorism, claiming it was the result of "oppression, injustice, arrogance, insults, contempt and the humiliation of this [Arab] nation."