Al Assad Invites U.S. To Reach "Effective Solutions"

Ibrahim Humeidi, Saeda Hamad     Al-Hayat     2003/08/15

Damascus, Jerusalem

Syrian President Bashar Al Assad invited the U.S., "the sole superpower," to focus on "effective political solutions to restore the rights to their legitimate owners" in the Middle East, and to have "a complete vision" about the reasons for the escalation in South Lebanon. While Damascus held Israel responsible for shattering the calm in Lebanon and deteriorating the situation in the Palestinian territories, Islamic Jihad in Palestine said it gave its fighters instructions to retaliate to the assassination of its military official in Hebron, Mohamad Ayoub Sadr.   

Observers believe that by targeting a high-ranking Jihad official, after killing two Hamas leaders, Israel is trying to push the two groups to end the truce, which would allow it to break free from its commitments set in the Roadmap. 

According to Palestinians sources, Palestinian State Minister for Security Affairs, Mohamad Dahlan, was supposed to meet yesterday with Israeli Defense Minister, Shaul Mofaz, to discuss this issue. Reuters reported Dahlan as urging the Palestinians groups not to be swept back into the "cycle of violence," which would allow Israel to "justify its failure to allow the establishment of a Palestinian state."

Mofaz had sent a message to the Palestinian Authority through the U.S. envoy, John Wolf, assigned to supervise the execution of the Roadmap, saying that Israel will not move to the second stage of the Roadmap before the extremist Palestinian groups are disarmed, while the Palestinian Authority asked for the intervention of the U.S. President to "end the Israeli escalation which is destroying the truce."

The developments on the Palestinian territories and the recent deterioration in South Lebanon were the focus of talks between the U.S. Under Secretary of State to the Middle East, William Burns, and President Al Assad.   

A Syrian presidential communiqué reported that Assad insisted that "it is necessary to have a complete picture of the situation instead of a partial one focused on the Arab side alone, for it is no longer acceptable to disregard the killings and the assassinations Israel is committing, while the Lebanese are asked to remain calm and under control."

When Burns informed al Assad that President Bush "is determined to move forward with the peace process as he talked in June 2002 about a Palestinian state," the Syrian President replied that "the course of events indicates that Sharon continues to build the racial separation wall despite the disapproval of President Bush, and carries on with the settlements, the policy of deep infiltration, the assassinations, the destruction of houses and the release of new racial laws, which all point to a lack of serious intention to be committed to any operation leading to peace and stability in the region."

Concerning the Palestinian organizations, al Assad assured that "there are thousands of Palestinians in Syria, and these organizations represent the rightful ambitions of the Palestinian people hoping for liberation and independence. Thus, it would be wise if the U.S., the sole superpower, focused on finding effective political solutions to restitute the rights to their legal owners and create stability and peace in this region," pointing out that "Syria and these associations are working hard for a comprehensive and just peace, and only Sharon hasn't yet adopted a peace strategy, but a strategy of violence, killing and destruction."   

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell asked Syria in an interview to the Egyptian television, to "expel" the extremist Palestinian groups still in Damascus. He said: "we want a comprehensive peace. If Syria wants it, it should start helping us in expelling some of these people and organizations from Damascus. Syria shouldn't allow the extremist units to plan activities from Damascus." He added: "we know that Hamas and Jihad and others are planning (suicide) operations from Damascus, they might be doing so less often than before and they might have changed their location, but they are still in Damascus, working on destroying the chances of establishing peace."

The presidential communiqué stated that al Assad renewed the opposition of his country concerning the "American occupation of Iraq" and said: "we are with the unity and stability and prosperity of Iraq and with the strengthening of relations with the Iraqi people after it is represented by an elected legitimate government." Concerning the transitional ruling council, Al Assad pointed out that "Syria is committed to the Arab stance represented by refusing to recognize it for it is not an independent institution, hoping to pave the road to establish a national government to represent the different sectors of the Iraqi society and be able to realize the aspirations of the Iraqi people."   

After Al Assad declared that "the policies Syria follows in dealing with all these issues spring from its great concern about the interests of the nation, the Arab people and the Arab world, in their just causes and aspirations to build a prosper and safe future", Burns expressed his "understanding of the Syrian political concepts" and hoped that "Syria and the U.S. would work together on the common issues for the benefit of the region to assure peace, security and stability for the people of the region."

The Foreign press coordinator at the Syrian Foreign Ministry, Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban, denied during an interview to Al-Hayat, that Burns had asked Syria to dismantle Hezbollah or disarm it, or stop its arms supplies. She stated that "Hezbollah is a Lebanese issue. It is a party fighting occupation and working with full responsibility," while Israel committed seven thousand breaches in the late period, in addition to shattering the past seven-month quiet. She stressed the importance of the U.S. administration taking a full view of the situation, "instead of dividing it, for the party that disrupted the harmony and started the escalation is Israel, through the crime it perpetrated in Beirut, in a bid to transfer its assassinations policy from the occupied territories to the heart of the Lebanese capital," which means that the Jewish state is "responsible for the latest escalation" in South Lebanon.    

Shaaban said that the general American attitude pointed to its desire for "stability in the region, and that peace is part of its strategy, but what is more important is to find a true political solution to the Middle East," for Syria "doesn't believe that the solution is to calm the atmosphere, but to find the comprehensive just solution," while Sharon represents the "main obstacle facing the implementation of peace, which Washington started to realize" in the last period. Shaaban said that Burns reported to Al Assad "Bush's commitment to implement comprehensive peace in the Middle East," and that the Syrian President appreciated this commitment, stressing that "Syria is always with comprehensive and just peace, but Sharon's attitude shows that he doesn't have the intention to implement peace."