Syrian-Egyptian contacts to resume very soon
Syria-Egypt, Politics, 11/5/1999

Well-informed Syrian sources told the Lebanese daily al-Nahar that Syrian-Egyptian contacts will be resumed very soon.

The sources added that Damascus is awaiting a coming visit by an Egyptian official expected to be Foreign Minister Amr Moussa. It did not set a date for the visit. The Syrian sources held Israel responsible for the attempt to "violate the atmosphere" between the two countries through "baseless statements," noting the "solid relations that are based on a strategy built on restoring all occupied territories according to UN resolutions."

It has been recently rumored by Western diplomatic sources that "a Syrian-Egyptian dispute" has been "escalated" due to the attempts made by Egypt to "give priority to the Palestinian track, according to Oslo, and to link the moves of other tracks to it, a matter which was rejected by Damascus."

Palestinian opposition sources said that despite Cairo's attempts to maintain a meeting between the Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Damascus through mediation that has been proposed many times, the Egyptian delegates did not agree to give any guarantee from Cairo that Arafat would not invest Damascus's opening its doors for him in order to give more concessions to Israel.

Western diplomats in Damascus said that the fact that no Egyptian envoy arrived in Damascus following Moussa's visit in May is an indication of intensified Egyptian-Syrian relations. The diplomats concluded that the insistence of the two sides that their bilateral relations are at their best is sure evidence of their desire to preserve these relations.

Previous Stories:
  Better Syrian - Egyptian relations of understanding   (10/27/1999)
  Appealing to the Syrian president to release one activist of human rights   (10/15/1999)
  Syrian ambassador to Cairo: There is no coolness in the Egyptian - Syrian relations   (10/7/1999)

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

Search