"We must not allow a few people, a few killers, a few terrorists, to destroy the dreams and hopes of the many," Bush said, with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz, Bahraini King Sheikh Hamad, Jordanian monarch Abdullah, Mubarak and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas by his side.

He even hinted that Washington and Arab countries could form a coalition to lay pressures on Syria and Hezbollah to relinquish support for armed Palestinian groups, political sources close to the summit told IOL.

Several Arab countries have long pressed the need to draw a distinction between acts of terrorism and the legitimate right to resist occupation, such as the case with the Palestinians.

But Washington insisted the Palestinian resistance groups should be dismantled, and it even bracketed some of them as "terrorist".

Islamic resistance movement Hamas immediately slammed the call for ending the so-called "terrorism".

"Bush's speech is very dangerous because he is asking Palestinian premier to stop Palestinian resistance. If he does not condemn his words, we can no longer consider him an envoy of the Palestinian people," Abdul Aziz Rantissi, a leading Hamas figure, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Mohamed Al-Hindi of Islamic Jihad said the summit is "only aimed at ending Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation, and the Arab statement will soon evaporate into thin air."

Bush met with the five Arab leaders in private for 100 minutes, amid differences reportedly surfacing between U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Arab foreign ministers a day earlier.

The two sides locked horn over Arabs’ normalization of ties with the Jewish state which delayed the official opening of the summit, reported Egypt’s official MENA news agency.

The U.S. has asked Arabs to undertake measures to normalize ties with Tel Aviv, but Arabs insisted this should be within the framework of comprehensive settlement of the Middle East conflict, it added.

The Americans pressed for returning the Egyptian and Jordanian ambassadors to Tel Aviv immediately, a request rebuffed by the Arab side as premature and could be considered when Israel implement the roadmap, political sources told IslamOnline.net.

They asserted that the Arab view stand emerged "victorious" despite pressing U.S. demands to accelerate normalization.

The Palestinian government unconditionally accepted the plan, while Israel gave a qualified approval after the U.S. promised to take into consideration its 15 reservations.

The Arab statement said Arab leaders backed the roadmap peace plan and urged Israel to implement its commitments in their entirety.

"We welcome the roadmap ... and we support the determination of the Palestinian Authority to fulfill its commitments and to put an end to violence," Mubarak said while reading the statement.

They called for Israel to "simultaneously fulfill its responsibilities to restore confidence and permit the Palestinians to return to a normal life."

Bush reiterated, for his part, commitment to put the Palestinians state into motion and secure a settlement to the Middle East.

"I am the kind of person who when I say something, I mean it," Bush said.

"I mean that the world needs to have a Palestinian state that is free, and at peace, and therefore my government will work with all parties concerned to achieve that vision."

Bush stressed that "Israel must make sure there is continuous territory that the Palestinians can call home."

In swap for the Arab concessions, he reassured the Arab leaders he would press Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon to halt settlements building and vowed to ties the demand to American aid to Israel.

But the participants did not probe the issue of borders for this state or other more "serious related matters," said Ghazi Al-Aridi, Lebanon’s Culture Minister Ghazi al-Aridi.

Aridi, skeptically, added all similar commitments earlier uttered by Washington on forcing Israel to meet responsibilities were not honored.

"It is rather a PR gathering, with the U.S. elections approaching and the unjustified invasion of Iraq," charged former Jordanian Information Minister Hani al-Hadawna.

Noticeably, Syria and Lebanon were not represented at the summit, although Israel still occupies the Syrian Golan Heights and the Lebanese Shebaa Farms.

Powell also reportedly disagreed with Arab foreign ministers on including Beirut and Damascus into the U.S.-backed roadmap, with the U.S. secretary dismissing a EU initiative in this respect.

Bush is scheduled to hold another summit in Jordan on Wednesday, June 4, with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

On the Iraq situation, the Arab and American sides seemingly stroke a common ground on the importance of maintaining Iraq’s integrity and sovereignty.

"We assure once more our commitment to preserve the independence and territorial integrity of Iraq under a government representative of the Iraqi people and emanating from the free will of this people, so that Iraq can live in peace and harmony with its neighbors," read the Arab statement.

Bush went rhetorical, with no direct commitment for setting up a national representative Iraqi administration.

"We reaffirmed America's commitment to helping the Iraqi people achieve freedom and democracy in a unified country, its borders intact, a country free of weapons of mass destruction and at peace with its neighbors and the world," he said in the statement.

"America is fully committed to restoring security to Iraqi cities, and helping the Iraqi people rebuild their nation after decades of cruel and corrupt dictatorship," he said.

But Egyptian diplomatic sources told IOL on condition of anonymity that Washington has given Arabs "full guarantees that an interim Iraqi government will be installed."