The war in Gaza is once again looming large as regional leaders met at the annual summit of the Arab League in Baghdad on Saturday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump ended a Middle East trip and amid the months-long Gaza war.
In his opening address, Iraqi President Abdullatif Rashid said his country is opposed to what he called attempts to displace the Palestinians from the homeland "under any circumstances or pretext."
Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit accused Israel of practising ethnic cleansing.
"It is disgraceful for a state to pursue ethnic cleansing in this era and the world keeps silent," the top Arab diplomat said at the summit.
"Israel's reckless policy in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon will thrust the whole region into endless cycles of confrontation," he added.
Several Arab leaders, including those of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are not attending the Baghdad meeting.
The participants are set to call on "all countries to offer political, financial and legal support" for a plan adopted at a summit held in Cairo in March for rebuilding the devastated Gaza Strip without displacing its inhabitants, Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported, citing a draft final statement.
Iraq Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said Baghdad would provide $40 million for the reconstruction of Lebanon and Gaza after wars with Israel.
Iraq backs the creation of an "Arab fund to support reconstruction efforts" after crises in the region, Sudani told Arab leaders. Iraq will contribute "$20 million to the reconstruction of Gaza and $20 million for the reconstruction of Lebanon," he added.
Saturday's summit comes two months after Israel ended a cease-fire reached with the Palestinian group Hamas in January.
In recent days, Israel has launched widespread attacks in Gaza and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed a further escalation of force to pursue his aim of destroying Hamas.
The Baghdad meeting was upstaged by U.S. President Donald Trump's tour in the region earlier in the week.
Trump's visit did not usher in a deal for a new cease-fire in Gaza as many had hoped, but he grabbed headlines by meeting with new Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa - who had once fought against U.S. forces in Iraq - and promising to remove U.S. sanctions imposed on Syria.
Al-Sharaa was not attending the summit in Baghdad, where Syria's delegation was headed by Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani. Iraqi Shiite militias and political factions are wary of al-Sharaa's past and had pushed back against his invitation to the summit.
Formerly known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, al-Sharaa joined the ranks of al-Qaida insurgents battling U.S. forces in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to oust Saddam Hussein and still faces a warrant for his arrest on terrorism charges in Iraq.
During Syria's conflict that began in March 2011, several Iraqi Shiite militias fought alongside the forces of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, making al-Sharaa today a particularly sensitive figure for them.
Iraq, which has strong - and sometimes conflicting - ties with both the United States and Iran, has sought to strike a difficult balance between them and to position itself as a regional mediator.
An Iraqi political official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said that Iran's Quds Force commander Esmail Ghaani had paid a visit to Baghdad prior to the summit and "conveyed messages of support for the Iranian-American negotiations" for a nuclear deal and a demand for the lifting of crippling sanctions on Iran.
