OIC summit focuses on Israel

OIC summit focuses on Israel

DOHA (Reuters): Leaders of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims started converging in Qatar on Saturday for an Islamic summit expected to call on Muslims to sever ties with Israel for killings of Palestinians they say amount to war crimes.

Authorities placed the Qatari capital of Doha under tight security for the three-day Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit that starts on Sunday.

The main seafront road leading to the conference center was closed to traffic and residents said businesses in the small Gulf Arab state were at a near standstill, especially along the main conference route.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was the first Arab leader to arrive.

Delegates said the summit would be presented with a draft resolution, approved by Muslim foreign ministers on Friday, calling on the OIC to sever ties with Israel for what the foreign ministers said were war crimes against Palestinians.

The delegates had said the resolution was a compromise between radicals led by Iran and Syria which demanded immediate action against Israel and moderates led by Egypt which has argued against a total break with the Jewish state.