Senior Arab diplomats yesterday condemned as "racist" Israel's alleged moves to tighten its grip on Arab east Jerusalem, while they renewed calls for international support for the Palestinians.
Foreign ministers and other envoys from the 22-member Arab League ended two days of meetings in Cairo by adopting pro-Palestinian resolutions that the international community is unable or unwilling to implement.
They also toughened an earlier statement condemning Israel's attempts to "besiege" Arab east Jerusalem and "isolate" it from Palestinians in the West Bank, saying the policy was "racist."
The ministers said Israel has isolated the Palestinians by setting up "military buffer zones between the city and the surrounding villages, increasing the military presence and digging trenches around it".
The Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, who was absent from the regular biannual Arab League meeting, has appealed to the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, to intervene urgently against Israeli moves to militarily seal off Jerusalem, aides said.
The Ministers also adopted a resolution repeating an "appeal to the international community to fulfill its responsibilities to protect Palestinians by sending international observers".
One resolution "reaffirms support for the Palestinian position of holding on to sovereignty over Jerusalem, including the Haram al-Sherif", the main Muslim holy site in the city.
Another repeated Arab threats to sever ties with any country recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel or moving its embassy there from Tel Aviv, recalling that a UN resolution urges countries not to do so.
Around 500 supporters of the Palestinians shouted anti-Israeli slogans and burned the US and Israeli flags during a protest in Cairo, near the American embassy and the Arab League headquarters.
Mr Arafat plans to attend the annual UN General Assembly debate in New York to be opened by President Bush this month, the UN and the Palestinians said.
It is not yet known if the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, will come to New York in response to an invitation from Mr Annan, the UN spokesman, Mr Fred Eckhard, said.
But the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, will attend and is due to speak on September 25th. There was no word on whether Mr Arafat would meet Mr Bush. The two have never met.
Meanwhile, Israel and the Palestinians struggled yesterday to confirm truce talks, but remained divided over the time and place of the opening dialogue aimed at ending almost a year of bloodshed.
The EU remained confident an agreement would be reached in the "coming days" for a much-anticipated meeting between Mr Peres and Mr Arafat.
As killing continued yesterday with the death of a Palestinian policeman, Israel vowed to step up retaliatory attacks against Palestinians. "We have not agreed on a place or a venue," Mr Peres told reporters in Jerusalem after the Spanish Foreign Minister, Mr Josep Pique, prematurely said the meeting would take place tonight.