Syrian call for summit intended to isolate Netanyahu
Syria-Regional, Politics, 6/17/1998

High-level Syrian sources told ArabicNews.com that the main goal of convening the expanded Arab summit called for by Damascus is isolating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by a strong united front that can help the US and Europe take action against him.

The sources said the the reason for not reaching an agreement on a time, place and schedule for the summit is that "each party demands a summit with its own conditions in which each side justifies normalization with Israel." The source added, "Some of the Arab states that rushed into normalization fear convening an expanded summit," because they do not want to take decisions, by which these states would be asked to halt their relations with Israel. The sources stated that rushing into normalization with Israel does not serve Arabs' goals, but it serves Netanyahu.

The source said, "There is an agreement in Syria's, Saudi's and Egypt's views on the importance of good preparation for the summit so that decisions serve Arab goals."

Previous Stories:
  Arafat: situation is serious, some Arab states want summit   (6/10/1998)
  El-Baz takes result of U.S. initiative into consideration in summit preparations   (6/5/1998)
  Saudi tour did not bring Syria, Jordan together   (6/4/1998)

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