Arab leaders gathered in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Thursday at the start of this weekend's Arab League summit.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa said in an opening speech to the foreign ministers that Arab leaders would, among other issues, focus on the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at the summit.

Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki said that the Palestinians had the political and financial support of the Arab states.

"Financial support for the Palestinian people and political support. This is what we expected and this is what we got. We are satisfied with the outcome so far, and this summit has really confirmed, as I said, the centrality of the Palestinian issue to all the Arabs and this exactly what we have really got so far."

Meanwhile the Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters that most of the Arab states have decided to reopen their embassies in Iraq.

"Many Arab states have declared that they will reopen their embassies and commissions in Iraq like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and the rest will do the same, God willing."

The convening of the annual summit in Damascus has worsened the split between Syria and US-allied Arab countries, who have been at odds with Syria over a host of issues for the past three years.