The heat is on
Lebanon and Syria are facing US pressure to back the "roadmap" peace plan, even while it leaves them out in the cold, writes Mohalhel Fakih
Relations between Damascus and Washington hit a new low after Secretary of State Colin Powell dismissed as "totally inadequate" efforts made by Syria to clamp down on hard-line Palestinian groups with offices in the country. But Damascus saw a silver lining in Powell's pledge, made at the World Economic Forum, to work for a comprehensive Middle East that includes Lebanon and Syria.
So far, Lebanon and Syria have not participated in the back-to-back political and economic summits that have been bringing together US, Arab, and Israeli leaders, although the Lebanese media reported that Syrian and Lebanese business delegates took part in some sessions at the World Economic Forum.
"This is a test. Syria is ready for it, and Israel must also be ready for it," Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Sharaa told reporters on Monday after talks with his visiting German counterpart Joschka Fischer. During a similar visit to Beirut, Fischer had called on both Syria and Lebanon to back the peace plan.
Al-Sharaa said Damascus is ready to "move forward" with the peace process, and that Israel must do the same. "Syria ... understands that the region has need of calm and a chance must be given to the [peace] process," Sharaa said.
The German foreign minister, fresh from World Economic Forum meetings on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan, where the Middle East quartet also made a pledge to work towards a comprehensive peace that includes Lebanon and Syria, and urged Beirut and Damascus to play a "constructive" role in the peace process.
"I think time is running quickly in the region; the region is changing, and I think Syria has an important role to play," Fischer said. He backed EU efforts to include Lebanon and Syria in the US-controlled peace process, which has been focussing only on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, however, told Fischer that Damascus would not accept a "marginal" role in the peace process, and wanted a just and comprehensive peace in the region.
"Without engaging Lebanon and Syria directly in the peace process I don't see how we can achieve peace," Lebanon's Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri warned after a meeting with Fischer in Beirut.
Lebanon and Syria are eager to take part in Middle East peace negotiations, to avoid a situation where key regional players draft a final Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement which neglects their own issues. These issues include Israel's withdrawal from occupied Lebanese and Syrian territory, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, and the release of Arab detainees held in Israeli jails.
Beirut's daily Al-Nahar said the EU had failed to convince Washington to include Lebanon and Syria in the current peace initiative. Political columnist Rosanna Abu Monsef quoted Western diplomatic sources in Beirut as saying the EU had not managed to persuade Washington to draft a roadmap which takes into account the Syrian-Israeli issues. She said even London, the US' close ally, considered Syria's crackdown on groups labelled as terrorist by the US and UK as being part and parcel of a comprehensive Middle East peace.
"If they [Syria] continue to be a terrorist- supporting regime, then they will not be a member of this process, in which case there will be consequences for... [Syria's] relationship with the US and with other responsible members of the international community," Powell told a news conference in Jerusalem this week.
Damascus views Hizbullah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad as legitimate movements resisting Israeli occupation. Palestinian offices in Damascus have largely been silent since the US piled pressure on the authorities there to shut them down. Syria also described Hizbullah as a Lebanese movement, thereby distancing itself from the group's decision-making structure.
Both Lebanon and Syria have been facing international pressure to end support for Hizbullah, branded a terrorist group by the US as well as a growing number of Western nations. Hizbullah has urged Australia to reverse a recent ban on the group, denying it was a "terrorist" organisation with international scope. "We know that the Australian decision was taken as a result of persistent American pressure and is a political decision lacking any evidence," said a statement made by Hizbullah. It reiterated that all its activities "have been restricted since its launch to directly resisting Israeli occupation".
Western powers have also been pressing Syria to withdraw troops from Lebanon, resulting in speculation from media here that a full pullout could take place before the end of the year. The US Senate and House of Representatives are getting ready to call a vote on a bill and a resolution urging sanctions to be imposed on Syria in relation to a long list of issues, one of which focusses on the presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon.
The tension between Damascus and Washington is likely to be increased after clashes occurred last week close to the Iraqi border which left five Syrian soldiers injured. Unidentified US officials said American special forces in Iraq attacked a convoy of suspected high-profile members of Saddam Hussein's toppled government. It was unclear how the Syrian border guards were injured, and whether or not the attack took place inside Syrian territory.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 26 June - 2 July 2003 (Issue No. 644)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/644/re7.htm