DAKAR. Dec 11 : An Islamic summit shunned by feuding Arab leaders prepared to close ahead of schedule Wednesday after passing controversial resolutions, reports AP.

participants were unable to agree on a united stand toward the US- brokered Middle East peace talks that resumed in Washington on Tuesday

Only five of the 22 Arab states in the organization of the Islamic Conference sent their leaders to the summit that began Monday. By Wednesday morning, all had left except Lebanese President

Elias Hrawl.

Also still present was Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which is counted as one of the 46 member states.

Conference sources said Arab leaders were avoiding Arafat. The PLO leader has been seeking a summit with Jordan. Lebanon. Egypt and Syria to coordinate positions on the US sponsored peace talks.

The anti-lraq coalition has not yet forgiven Arafat for sympathizing with Baghdad in the Gulf War. the sources said,

The summit initially was to end Thursday, but delegate^ said it would finish later Wednesday. >

Arafat made an Impassioned appeal Tuesday night for the conference, representing the world's 1.1 billion Muslims, to "forget our differences” and negotiate a common position on the peace talks. But leaders started leaving Monday when they could not agree, a Kuwaiti delegate said.

Leaders rushed through more than two dozen resolutions on issues ranging from Afghanistan and Cyprus to rights of women and children.

delegates said, though no official announcement has been made.

Iran expressed strong opposition to the Arab-Israeli peace talks, saying they could not deal strongly enough with the Palestinian Issue. But Iran failed in an attempt to remove some moderately positive references to the talks from the resolutions.

Sheikh Jaber opened the meeting with a blistering attack on Iraq. Over opposition from some African members, he pushed through a resolutlot condemning Iraq's Invasion cv;1 Kuwait and failure to comply with UN resolutions ordering war repatriations.

Syria. In a surprise move to toughen the Arab position against Israel, proposed a resolution equating Zionism with racism that was adopted over mild objections from Egypt

The resolution was a chai lenge to the United States which, in a move to encourage Israel's participation in the peace talks, said last week it would seek the repeal of a 1973 UN resolution equating Zionism with racism