Mubarak and Asssad in joint conference in Syria

During his visit to Syria the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak held a joint press conference with the Syrian President Hafez Assad on July 29.

President Assad welcomed the Egyptian president. "As usual, we discussed different issues of common interests," the Syrian president said, stressing the importance of the firm Syria-Egypt ties which have been strong and will remain so despite some occasional differences which are only a matter of certain judgments.

"Circumstances may imply that we are moving for the worse, but thanks to our determination, we shall safeguard our character, our will and our homelands and we will never surrender," president Assad said. He added that as Arabs, "We shall stand firm in confrontation of all intentions, and we hope that our objectives will be realized peacefully, safely and with amity among people."

The Egyptian president thanked the Syrian president and talked about the historic cooperation between Syria and Egypt which are promoting incessantly for the interest of the two countries and the entire Arab nation.

"The issues we discussed covered the Middle East problem, other issues and inter-Arab relations which are, in particular, very important, to the entire Arab nation," Egyptian president said.

He added that talks also centered on the issue of the Arab common market advocated by Syria and Egypt and which is of a great interest to all Arab countries.

President Mubarak made it clear that though the Arab market started during the 1950s before the European's but the Arab market delayed, and "We have no choice in the current world of blocs except through making practical and collective steps to realize this objective."

Then the two presidents replied to journalists' questions.

A question was addressed to President Assad and Mubarak about their evaluation of the stalemate in the Middle East process, and if hopes for its productive resumption are real.

President Assad said: "It is really difficult to say that there are hopes in the light of the present situation. Even those who had some hope in the beginning of the moves find in some facts that there is no justification to be optimistic or that we are reaching peace. I don’t think there is anybody who is following up matters and says there is hope, because every new day, a new evidence appears that there is no hope, although there are peace-loving people in the world and in the region and even in Israel. I mean that there is a big number of people who want peace, but the behavior of the current Israeli government does not indicate that it is going in the direction of peace.

"Of course we will continue to cling fast to peace, and we really want peace, and we were the ones who opened the door of peace at a time when the Israeli leadership was refusing it.

"When the US peace initiative was put forward, the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at that time wrote a message to the Americans which means that there is no peace. Despite this, the Arabs said we are with peace and we want it. And despite of this, Israel, of course, went to the conference and in front of all the conferees, Shamir openly included in his speech something which said that the Arabs have vast lands while the Israelis have a small land, and he mentioned all area in Golan, which means all the occupied areas. Despite this fact, the peace process opened its way but remained a sort of endless and meaningless discussion.

"Then, the circumstances changed and another government came and some progress was really achieved, and it was possible to reach peace, but then circumstances changed again and the present government came.

"I am like all of you concluding and listening to clear statements, and in light of what we hear and see and in the best conditions the freeze will continue to prevail until there are new prospects," Assad said.

In reply to the same question Egyptian president said, "I don’t want to speak a lot about this question but I would like to say and repeat that the substitute for peace after the period of stalemate will be menace not to a specific country but to all countries participating in the peace process. If the situation exploded it would be difficult and it would need a great effort to restore tranquillity and peace."

In reply to a question whether Egyptian president left some kind of response to break the deadlock of the peace process, particularly under Netanyahu government’s clinging to settlement, in particular in the Golan, and its rejection of the European role and in the mission of European envoy Moratinos, President Mubarak said:

"The position is difficult and everyone is waiting for the Israeli side to show flexibility, but I have not seen flexibility so far.

"But I’ve seen much more intransigence on what I heard about the Golan on 25 July, which is frustrating.

"It might be said that it is for local consumption, but I say to the whole world that this is a grave matter.

"Concerning the American initiative to get the peace process to proceed and to bring talks back on the Syrian and Palestinian tracks, I can say there are still many obstacles and I wish the American stand to be further active and the Israeli side to show flexibility if we want real peace."

Earlier president Hafez Assad and president Mubarak held a close meeting which was preceded by a plenary meeting comprising, in addition to the two presidents, the Syrian and the Egyptian delegations.

Earlier Egyptian president had arrived in Damascus on July 29 accompanied by an official delegation headed by Premier Kamal al Janzouri and comprising Information minister, Safwat A1 Sharif, foreign minister Amer Mousa, head of president office Zakarayah Azmi electricity minister Maher Abaza, oil minister Hamdi al Bambi president adviser for political Affairs Osama Al Baz and the Egyptian ambassador in Damascus.