Lebanese premier comments on Israeli FM remarks on negotiations

Lebanese Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss has asserted that Israel's repeated attempts to separate the Lebanese and Syrian tracks in the Middle East peace process will eventually fail because the "unity of the two tracks is a political decision supported by a unanimous Lebanese will."

In comments he made on Monday in response to statements made by Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks, Hoss said, "We had said in the past and we repeat it today that Lebanon, which is committed to the peace process, refuses negotiations and separate deals and adheres to just and comprehensive peace providing for restoring the lands and the rights to their legitimate owners and resuming negotiations from the point at which they broke off."

Al-Hoss continued: "We, in Lebanon, believe that the unity of the Syrian and Lebanese positions is but a strength for Lebanon in immunizing it against provocative and blackmailing attempts frequently made by Israel."

The Lebanese Premier went on to say that the last of these attempts was promoted by Sharon, in which he called for separating the Syrian and Lebanese tracks. Al-Hoss indicated Sharon's neglect of the refusal his ideas met when he submitted them to European officials during his recent visit to Europe.