Syrian- Egyptian high coordination level
Syria-Egypt, Politics, 10/11/2000

The Egyptian foreign minister Amr Moussa left Damascus on Tuesday following a short visit to the country.

In a pre-departure statement to the press at the airport, Moussa said he conveyed a message to President Bashar al-Assad from President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak on the latest developments in the region.

On his talks in Damascus, the Egyptian FM said that the dealt with several issues, especially the Arab summit and the ongoing preparations, topics, listed on its agenda and the joint Arab action.

He said that the Arab states are now in a state of alert due to the dangerous situation and developments as well as challenges facing them.

Concerning developments which led him to visit Damascus for the second time in 48 hours, Moussa added it is not necessary to put it in the framework of developments, rather it can be put in the framework of necessities of direct discussions and understanding.

Concerning the Israeli threats against Syria and Lebanon and their impact on the peace process, Moussa said that the peace process is in a bottleneck and is collapsing. " The issue does not relate to putting the peace process in an additional bottleneck. The whole question is a big mess. As for threats. I do not see any concern in Damascus and I do know that there is no concern in Beirut, nor in any Arab capital."

" As I have said and I do repeat and I confirm that every action has its reaction. Therefore, the threats do not frighten Arabs. We are not scared. nor do the Arab states. This is an important point they should understand that such fears do not exist, rather there is a very strong Arab position," Moussa added.

For his part, the Syrian foreign ministers held Israel responsible for the escalating of tension whether in the occupied Palestinian land, in South Lebanon or in the region as a whole.

He added no Arab party has made a threat, but the only side which made threats is the Israeli government. This threat is absolutely rejected by all Arabs. Al-Shara added: " I agree with minister Moussa that there is no fear in the Arab street, nor in Damascus, nor in Beirut and nor in any Arab capital."

Al-Shara added: " we are cooperating together, looking for best options for reactivating Arab solidarity and to confirm I in the coming Arab summit."

He expressed his conviction that " we are at a new stage and a significant turning point, where Israel will pay a high price for what they perpetrated against the Palestinians people, for killing unarmed Palestinians."

He said " we want an American position that holds Israel responsible for the results of what happened. We want a clear European position that al least holds Israel responsible for all these grave and negative developments in the region." He continued that the international community should have been shocked by Israel's brutality and by the scenes of Palestinians facing Israeli live bullets by bare chests.

On holding of a summit conference in Sharm al-Sheikh (Egypt) between Palestinians and Israelis Mousa and al-Shara said that there is no such summit ( al-Sheikh summit ) adding that the main and major coming event is the Arab summit.

Previous Stories:
  Moussa briefs Assad on new developments   (10/10/2000)
  Moussa: threats do not frighten us, we back Syria   (10/9/2000)
  New Syrian ambassador in Cairo   (10/9/2000)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search