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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 December 1999 Issue No. 460 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 December 1999 Issue No. 460
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Debate Focus Profile Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Syrian talks surprise Beirut
By Ranwa Yehia
Following the announcement of the resumption of Syrian-Israeli peace talks last week, the Lebanese government has adopted a wait-and-see attitude before taking any action, the Lebanese public being split between those welcoming the news and those expressing their reservations.
Assad
Barak
On the diplomatic front, one high-ranking Lebanese foreign ministry official told Al-Ahram Weekly that Lebanon had not made any decision regarding the officials who would lead the expected peace negotiations alongside Syria after the Washington meeting.
This was not due to a lack of foresight on the Lebanese government's part, the official said, but reflected the fact that Lebanon has yet to receive an official invitation for negotiations with Israel as well as information regarding the dates or form the negotiations would take.
He added that it was not yet clear whether the delegation would be diplomatic or military or both, or whether it would be headed by the foreign minister or by a chief negotiator, as had been the case during the Madrid and Washington negotiations.
He said that while there was no lack of qualified people ready to head or be members of such a delegation, the issue could become more delicate if there was a need for the foreign minister to head the delegation.
"It has not yet been decided whether someone will be appointed to fill the portfolio of full-term foreign minister, who will then handle the negotiation file, and a decision won't be made before it is clear what will happen in Washington," the official said.
Lebanese Prime Minister Selim Al-Hoss currently also holds the portfolio of foreign minister.
The official said that there was still real ambiguity regarding what would be decided in Washington and questioned what form the resumption of negotiations would take, it still not being clear among Lebanese diplomats and politicians how Lebanon will behave after the announcement of principles for the continuation of negotiations takes place.
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud's position on Sunday was succinct, his repeating the view that peace negotiations between Syria and Israel would be "difficult and extremely delicate".
Lahoud credited the resumption of the peace process to the "steadfastness" of the Lebanon-Syria negotiating position, saying that the breakthrough could lead to "positive conclusions".
However, the Lebanese government's official reaction to the news, made by Prime Minister Hoss at a cabinet meeting last Thursday, expressed the hope that the negotiations would not take long before they bore fruit. But Hoss also indicated that Lebanon would not participate in the Washington talks, but would launch its own negotiations "when it ascertains that the talks have actually begun in a way that satisfies both Lebanon and Syria".
In general, officials in Beirut appear to have been taken by surprise by the sudden announcement of a resumption to the peace negotiations last Thursday, with House Speaker Nabih Berri admitting that the timing had not been expected.
It was clear, however, that US President Bill Clinton's announcement on Wednesday that the negotiations between Syria and Israel would begin "at the point where they left off" in 1996 was regarded by Lebanese officials as a Syrian diplomatic coup.
Meanwhile, Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayed Hassan Nasrallah commented that the peace process was "a difficult and complicated operation, particularly if there is a Lebanese and Syrian insistence on all their rights, and they do not succumb to Zionist conditions." (see interview by Khaled Dawoud, opposite page).
"The departure of a Lebanese and Syrian delegation to the negotiations does not mean that people in Lebanon should heave a sigh of relief and that resistance fighters should abandon their weapons," Nasrallah said on Sunday after an iftar meal in Beirut, with the party's second-in-command, Sheikh Naim Qassem, reiterating Hizbullah's position on Saturday that it will continue to stage operations against the Israelis.
"We are not afraid of what will develop after a withdrawal [from South Lebanon]," he said. "On the contrary, it is they [the Israelis] who should be afraid."
