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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 June 2000 Issue No. 486 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 June 2000 Issue No. 486
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Bygones will not be bygone
By Khaled DawoudThere were hopes that Yasser Arafat's participation in the late President Hafez Al-Assad's funeral would break the ice in Syrian-Palestinian relations. But the reception he got showed that the ice may need to thaw out first.
In an attempt to avoid being short-shrifted, Arafat flew to Damascus from Cairo aboard President Hosni Mubarak's plane. According to a Damascus-based Arab diplomat, Arafat, mistrusted for years by the late Assad, apparently feared that had he arrived on his own, the Syrian government would have sent a low-key foreign ministry official to receive him. Consequently, he flew with President Mubarak, and the two were welcomed by Syrian Prime Minister Mustafa Miro. Arafat's plan, however, was not foolproof.
Mubarak was met by Bashar Al-Assad upon entering Al-Shaab, or the People's, Palace where Assad's coffin was laid. But Arafat was seated in a reception room with other participants for nearly an hour before he was able to pay his last respects. The aging, frail leader stood in front of the coffin and offered a military salute twice before reading out verses from the Qur'an beseeching mercy for the departed.
"Repository of faith" and "You will always be the leader;" the respective titles beneath Bashar and Assad's pictures
After a while, he met Bashar, kissed the tall young man three times on the cheek and visibly pumped his hand. Again, and unlike world leaders whom Bashar met separately in a closed room at the palace, Bashar sat with Arafat in the open reception room, as he did with other low-ranking officials. Less than a minute later, and before Arafat had finished his coffee, the chief Syrian chamberlain came to Bashar, reminding him that there were other guests he had to meet. Arafat gulped down the coffee, stood up and showered Bashar with more kisses on the cheeks and forehead before leaving the palace.
Arafat was declared an "unwanted person" by Syria in 1983 following disagreements with Assad during the Lebanon civil war. After ties started improving slightly ahead of the opening of the Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid in 1991, Arafat enraged the late Assad again by secretly negotiating a deal with Israel, and breaking earlier pledges of coordination. Since the signing of the 1993 Oslo agreement with Israel, Assad had refused to meet with Arafat despite repeated mediation attempts by Egypt and Jordan. Assad did not trust Arafat, and analysts believe that this is unlikely to change under Bashar.
When Iranian President Mohamed Khatami arrived, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Sharaa rushed to meet him at the palace's entrance. The same happened with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, French President Jacques Chirac and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.
An unexpected guest at Assad's funeral was US black civil rights activist Jessie Jackson who came with Albright. Jackson mediated the release of an American pilot whose plane was shot down by Syria during the Lebanese civil war in 1983. It was the late Assad's readiness to accept his mediation effort that opened the door for Jackson to carry out similar mediation missions to arrange the release of US captives in various parts of the world. His last mission was in former Yugoslavia where he managed to negotiate the release of three US soldiers held by Serbia.
