TUNIS, May 21: Arab leaders began arriving here on Friday for a delayed summit aimed at defusing popular rage at the United States and Israel in return for US changes to its initiative for Arab political reform, officials said.

Presidents Emile Lahoud of Lebanon and Maaouiya Ould Taya of Mauritania were the first leaders of the 22-member Arab League to arrive for the summit, which host Tunisia had planned to host March 28 before scrapping it at the last minute amid a row over democratic reform.

The two-day summit is due to open Saturday amid growing Arab rage over US military actions in Iraq and Israel's onslaught in the Gaza Strip, which has cost the lives of dozens of Palestinians, many of them civilians.

Foreign diplomats say the anger is making it even harder for Washington to promote its vision of a democratic Middle East, deemed essential to uprooting some of the causes of anti-American terror, though the United States is happy that Arab governments were finally taking reform seriously.

"It's become a real issue. The Arab League is talking about this (reform)," a diplomat said. Arab officials say that with authoritarian governments given greater scope to put their own gloss on reform - a process analysts say could eventually cost them their hold on power - they are now ready to help cool tempers in the region.

The summit will aim to adopt reforms in line with a revised American document that will be presented to the June 10 summit of the Group of Eight major industrialized nations and Russia, Arab League official Taher Masri said.

The Arabs insist that change must come from within their countries and reject any foreign interference. Masri said the "American document has been amended with the introduction of Arab ideas on the specific nature of reforms in each country and on the need to resolve the conflicts in the Middle East."

The leaders will also express their "commitment to the values of tolerance and moderation, the wish to establish a culture of dialogue among religions and cultures, and the rejection of hatred in all its forms."

In that context, they will commit themselves to combat terrorism and dismantle terrorist networks, while respecting the distinction between "terrorism and the legitimate right of peoples to combat occupation."

A senior Arab official said here on Friday that a conciliatory resolution adopted by a preparatory meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on May 10 would be approved by the heads of state.

The resolution "condemns military operations against Palestinian civilians and Palestinian leaders, as well as operations against civilians, without discrimination", he said.

Such a stand will be "a first" for Arab leaders, the official said, noting that past summits had not condemned operations that target Israeli civilians. The resolution will also lend its support to "efforts for a mutual and simultaneous" cease fire in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a "rejection of any modification to the reference points of the peace process."

The Arabs will send a message to the world that they "remain attached to peace and to dialogue," one Arab delegate added. At the same time, a delegate said the Palestinians will propose a "firm denunciation" of this week's Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, where 42 Palestinians have been killed.

On Iraq, the draft resolution calls on the Arab League to make the necessary contacts to "facilitate the hand over of power (there) on June 30 in coordination with the United Nations and the Iraqi people."

It also calls for the "withdrawal of occupation forces and an end to the occupation" of Iraq, while recognizing that this "must take into account the situation in Iraq".

The draft also denounces the abuse by US guards of prisoners at Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib prison and demands that those responsible be punished. Arab foreign ministers were due to hold a round of formal preparatory talks on Friday night, as the police set up roadblocks and enforced tight security around this Mediterranean capital of two million people. Traffic jams were extensive. -AFP