Iran's foreign ministry late Sunday criticized the results of the just-completed Arab summit in Cairo, saying it had failed to respond to the wishes of the Palestinians and other Muslims.
"The Arab summit needed to take firm decisions, make concrete proposals to support the Palestinian people, and to decide to totally break-off relations with Israel," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
"The occupied territories are the scene of grave events which are the natural consequence of the pseudo-peace, in which the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, the return of refugees and a normal life are being ignored," the spokesman said.
State television early Monday described the summit as "feeble".
"Once more, the Arab League has shown its inability to resolve the big problems," the television channel said in a commentary.
President Mohammed Khatami denounced the "procrastination" of the Arab leaders, notably in their failure to cooperate with the Organization of the Islamic Conference, including the OIC's president, Iran. He called for an urgent meeting of foreign ministers.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced that all Iranian banks would open special accounts to "collect funds to support the Intifada".
Marches in support of the Palestinians took place Sunday at several universities. The movement will "increase in the coming days," television said.
The Arab leaders meeting in Cairo Saturday and Sunday offered financial and moral support to the Palestinians, but stopped short of severing ties completely with Israel – TEHRAN (AFP)
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