TEHRAN Muslim countries agreed on Saturday to stop political contacts with Israel until it ends deadly clashes with the Palestinians and heeds UN resolutions on settling the Middle East conflict.

Winding up an emergency one-day meeting, the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) said it had decided to "halt all political contacts with the Israeli government so long as the aggression and blockade against the Palestinian people and its national authority continue and as long as Israel refuses to implement UN resolutions".

The meeting which was scheduled to be attended by the foreign ministers of all member countries was unfortunately not given the importance and prominence that it should have been afforded. Egypt did not participate at all. Some other countries delegated lower ranking officials to the meeting.

Some Arab countries are still reluctant to assume a hard stand against the usurper regime of Israel. Although the Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi had previously voiced Iran's concern at the continuing Qatar-Israel relationship, he nevertheless personally attended the conference and forcefully put forward Iran's position and stand regarding the Palestinian issue. Many of his recommendations were adopted by the conference and utilized in the final draft. The foreign ministers of the 22-member Arab League had called a meeting in Cairo last week for a freeze on relations with Israel but stopped short of demanding a full break in ties.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat had appealed to the OIC gathering for strong support for the Palestinian Intifada (uprising) to end Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip that dates to the 1967 Middle East War.

In response, the OIC -- representing 1.2 billion Muslims around the world -- agreed on urgent financial aid without specifying any figures.

A 25-point OIC statement, issued at the close of the meeting in Qatar, also prescribed a halt in normalizing ties with Israel and closure of its missions and offices in member states.

------ End All Forms of Normalization -----

"(We) call on member states which have established, and which had started to take steps to establish, relations with Israel within the context of the peace process to break these relations and to close down any missions or offices," Reuters quoted it said.

"(They should) sever all economic relations, and end all forms of normalization with Israel until it meticulously and sincerely implements the UN resolutions on Palestine, holy Jerusalem (Bait-ul-Moqaddas) and the Arab-Israeli conflict, and until the restoration of a just, comprehensive peace in the region.

The communique found fault with the United States over its perceived pro-Israeli bias and Israel's use of U.S.-made weapons in eight months of fighting that has killed more than 500 Palestinians.

----- Use of U.S.-Made F-16 Condemned ----------

The statement echoed Arafat's earlier condemnation of Israel's use of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, ground-attack apache helicopters and main battle tanks as well as "the use of depleted uranium bullets and poison gas..."

---- 'Oil Weapon' Ruled Out --------

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jaber al-Thani told a news conference an oil boycott like that imposed during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War was not an option now.

But the OIC resolution called for an international criminal tribunal to try Israeli officials "as war criminals" responsible for "heinous massacres" and human-rights violations.

The OIC said it would once again lobby world powers for a UN Security Council session that would authorize a special protection force for Palestinians.