SIRTE: Arab leaders today opened their summit determined to send a clear warning that the Middle East peace process is doomed unless Israel freezes Jewish settlements in annexed east Jerusalem.

In the face of the apparent deadlock, however, UN chief Ban Ki-moon, invited to address the summit, appealed for Arab leaders to support US-led efforts to initiate “proximity” talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

“I urge you to support efforts to start proximity talks and direct negotiations. Our common goal should be to resolve all final-status issues within 24 months,” Ban said.

He reiterated that Israel’s settlement activity in east Jerusalem was “illegal” and stressed “Jerusalem’s significance to all must be respected, and it should emerge from negotiations as the capital of two states.” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, blasted Israel’s policy of considering the whole of Jerusalem as its united capital as “madness,” in his speech at the summit in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte.

“This is madness and it does not commit us in any way,” he said, speaking through an interpreter.

“Jerusalem is the apple of the eye of each and every Muslim... and we cannot at all accept any Israeli violation in Jerusalem or in Muslim sites,” the Turkish premier said.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who hosted last year’s summit in Doha, addressed the opening session in the Mediterranean city before handing over the presidency to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi. The two-day gathering follows the worst violence in Gaza in 14 months, set against the background of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of demands to stop settlement building in mainly Arab east Jerusalem. It is the first summit to be hosted by the maverick Kadhafi who considers Israel an implacable “enemy” of the Arabs.

Fresh US efforts to broker indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks earlier this month were still-born when Israel announced its plan to build 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in annexed east Jerusalem.

The announcement, made during a visit to Israel by US Vice President Joe Biden, enraged Washington and infuriated the Palestinians, who just days earlier had agreed to enter US-led indirect talks with the Israelis.

Arab League chief Amr Mussa has set the tone for the Sirte summit by insisting that Israel scrap the new settlement plans before indirect talks with the Palestinians can start.

“Indirect Palestinian-Israeli peace talks depend on freezing settlements and especially on cancelling plans by Israel to build 1,600 settlements in (east) Jerusalem,” he said.