Syrian-Egyptian summit convenes in Damascus
Syria-Egypt, Politics, 1/15/1998

After concluding talks on Wednesday night, President Hosni Mubarak and President Hafez al-Assad met with reporters.

President al-Assad said that the meeting between them was productive. "We talked in depth about issues," referring to the latest changes and events in the region. "We reiterated the need not to weaken our resolve... in facing the new developments and to remain strong," Assad said. He added, "We should not talk much about this issue, but I would say in general that we have discussed what should be done. We shall continue to discuss the whole situation and hope that we can achieve the desired results."

President Mubarak for his part said that the links between Egypt and Syria are very strong and the extended meetings between the two presidents are not unusual or infrequent adding, "There are continued meetings between the president and myself, whether in Damascus or in Cairo. There might be other meetings of other delegations in all specializations due to strong mutual ties. In fact as President Hafez al-Assad said, 'We discussed all issues.'"

Asked about the latest developments in the Syrian-Israeli negotiations, the lack of progress in the Palestinian - Israeli negotiations and the possibility of withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, Assad said, "We have started the peace process and we opened a wide door for the peace initiative presented at that time and we walked in this direction. Briefly, I say this march stopped after the elections in Israel and a new government came to power."

President Assad added, "We have not seen anything that foresees or confirms that the current Israeli government's wishes to achieve peace or to have it reach the required end. At any rate, the whole world was previously saying that the Arabs do not want peace, as Israel was pushing propaganda in the West and East alleging that the Israelis are good and want to live in peace with the Arabs. The world for years believed this." Assad went on to say, "Now the world has realized that the opposite is true. We have set the peace process, we still cling fast to it. The others do not do anything to establish a just and comprehensive peace which returns rights completely to their owners. Nobody would concede his own lands to satisfy others. At any rate, the ball is now in the Israeli court."

Asked about the Turkish-Israeli maneuvers, Assad said "that they were an expression of a clear and vicious alliance."

Also addressing the maneuvers, Mubarak said, "We have expressed our opinions on the subject of the Turkish-Israeli maneuvers... and we rejected them because they are considered an axis, namely an axis against Syria, a brotherly Arab state."

Mubarak added, "I already said to the Turkish officials on more than one occasion that we will never accept an alliance against Syria or against any Arab state." President Mubarak added that Turkey's reply was that the maneuvers were for search and rescue operations, adding that Turkey "asked us to send an Egyptian observer but I refused to do so." Mubarak added, "We heard that these maneuvers will be repeated later and that they will be in the Mediterranean Sea too... and this indicates that they were not maneuvers for search and rescue operations."

Mubarak said that the final decision is yet to be made by Egypt as it will be monitoring the situation and any new developments to ascertain where these events are leading to, "On this basis we will decide about what to do."

Earlier, President Assad and President Mubarak had talks in a closed meeting, later attended by Syrian vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam, Foreign Minister al-Shara', Egyptian Premier Kamal al-Ganzouri and Foreign Minister Amr Moussa.

The presidents discussed Arab, regional and international issues. The two presidents reviewed the latest developments of events in the recent past, including resolutions of the Islamic summit in Tehran, Israel's stand towards the Middle East peace process, the entire situation in the region, Turkish-Israeli-US military maneuvers and their repercussions on the region's security and stability and relations between Turkey and the Arab states.

The presidents placed emphasis on the Middle East peace process and the worrisome state it has reached due to Israel's lack of commitment to peace.

Syria and Egypt underlined peace as a strategic Arab option and stressed the importance of improving Arab ties and Arab solidarity.

Previous Stories:
  Mubarak arrives unannounced in Damascus   (1/14/1998)
  US - Turkish - Israeli maneuvers to start on January 7   (12/25/1997)
  Islamic Summit roundup   (12/12/1997)

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