On the Syrian- Palestinian summit
Palestine-Syria, Politics, 8/27/2001

The Palestinian planning and international minister at the Palestinian Authority Nabil Shaath said in an exclusive statement to the Jordanian daily al- Dostour in Damascus that all conditions have been prepared to provide a success for the coming summit between President Bashar al-Assad and the chairman of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat.

Shaath who visited Damascus and met with the foreign minister Farouk al-Shara said he expects the summit to attain its objectives in closing the file of the past and start a new phase.

Shaath continued:" Our meetings with the officials in sisterly Syria have been always fruitful and successful and we discussed during our visit to Damascus all arrangements that would make Arafat's visit to Damascus successful to a large extent. All realize the importance of inter- Arab solidarity in these critical conditions."

On the existence of a Syrian initiative concerning the peace process on the Palestinian track, Shaath said that there is no Syrian initiative to this effect " and we did not expect that from the Syrian brothers because they have their own views concerning the way of running the negotiations with the Israeli side. And we do honor this view point." Shaath announced that all Arab states have agreed on boycotting Israel, including Qatar which stressed that it had severed relations with Israel, but still there is Mauritania, the only Arab state which still maintains relations with Israel without signing a peace agreement with it.

Shaath also stressed that the Palestinian- Syrian coordination backs the Palestinian coordination with Egypt and Jordan. He expressed hope that coordination will be enhanced among all Arab states.

Meantime, the London- based al-Hayat daily on Sunday quoted Palestinian sources as saying that the Chairman of the Palestinian authority Yasser Arafat spoke on the telephone on Saturday with the chairman of the Palestinian national salvation from Khaled al-Fahoum in order to accelerate his visit to Damascus and meeting with President Bashar al-Assad because the first date for this visit will be during the first half of September after the end of the anti- racism international conference in Durban, according to al-Hayat.

In a special report from Damascus, the paper added that the sources indicated that among the reasons for postponing Arafat's visit to Syria is that the Syrian foreign minister Farouk al-Shara will stay for one week in Durban while Arafat's visit will be for one day during which he will deliver a speech before the conference.

Previous Stories:
  Shaath in Damascus after Abu Mazin   (8/25/2001)
  Syrian firm position towards ME peace reiterated   (8/25/2001)
  Syria and the Palestinian authority   (8/23/2001)

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

Search