AL condemns Israeli settlement expansion in the Golan
Syria-Regional, Politics, 8/15/1998

The Arab League has strongly condemned the decision of the Israeli government to expand settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

The AL's assistant secretary general for political affairs, Muhammad Zakaraya Ismael, said the Israeli decision is a blatant maneuver by the Likud government led by Netanyahu in order to pressure Syria to unconditionally resume negotiations. Israel wants negotiations to start from the zero point, whereas Syria seeks, together with all Arab states and the international community, to have talks started from the point at which they broke off.

Ismael described the decision as "old news" being frequently used by Israel to force Syria to resume negotiations. He stressed that an Israel attempt as such "will not undermine Syria's determination and steadfast stand nor the cohesion between the Syrian and Lebanese peace tracks."

Meanwhile, the AL noted the urgent need to intensify contacts with Turkey so as to halt its increasing military cooperation with Israel, a cooperation which ultimately serves Israel and damages relations between Turkey and the Arab states. This was expressed in a report released by the AL on dangers of the Turkish-Israeli military cooperation against the region's security and stability. The report is to be submitted at the next meeting of the AL council.

The report stated that cooperation between Turkey and Israel has been boosted in military training and warplane and rocket maintenance through exchanging visits between high-ranking officials from the two sides and building up military bases for each side in the other's territories.

The report added that such cooperation implies the two sides' persistence to develop bilateral military cooperation.

The report added that the AL chief Esmat Abdul Meguid sent a message to Turkish Foreign Minister Ismael Cem in which Meguid stressed the concern of the Arab states to develop relations with Turkey in a way serving common interests and traditional ties.

The AL chief called the attention of the Turkish side to the risks of Israel's owning of nuclear weapons which constitute a grave threat to the region's stability and security. He expressed hope that Turkey would reconsider its military cooperation with Israel which adopts an anti-peace policy and occupies Arab territories, foremost being Jerusalem.

The report indicated that it was agreed during Cem's recent visit to Israel to convene an Israeli-Turkish joint economic conference by the end of 1998. The conference aims at strengthening bilateral trade and economic cooperation and the establishment of joint projects between the two sides.

Previous Stories:
  Syrian minister addresses relations with Egypt, Turkey   (7/30/1998)
  Turkish-Israeli missiles   (7/28/1998)
  Turkish pilots trained in Israel   (7/14/1998)

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

Search