Walid Muallem also hinted that Syria might rethink the Arab initiative for Middle East peace, which offers Israel normalisation of ties in return for a withdrawal from occupied territories. “Saudi Arabia must use its influence over the majority in Lebanon to help find a solution,” Muallem told foreign ministers from the 22-member Arab League, gathering to prepare for the two-day summit that begins on Saturday.
“The Syrian efforts alone are not enough. The Arab parties that are friendly with and have influence in Lebanon must exert efforts,” he said. Lebanon has been without a head of state since November, when pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud stood down at the end of his term without a successor having been chosen by parliament.
On Monday, the speaker’s office in Beirut announced that another session to elect a president had been postponed until April 22 amid continued deadlock. The decision marks the 17th time since September that a vote has been put off amid a standoff between the Western- and Saudi-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition, backed by Syria and Iran.
Syria’s permanent representative to the Arab League, Yussef Al Ahmad, said that because Lebanon has decided to boycott the summit, the foreign ministers would adopt a previous agreement on the crisis but not discuss it in detail.a “The Syrian president (Bashar Al Assad) had intended to discuss the situation in Lebanon in full detail had Lebanon been present,” Ahmed said on the sidelines of the foreign ministers meeting. “Due to Lebanon’s absence, the Arab foreign ministers have decided to adopt the same statement decided in Cairo three weeks ago which calls for supporting Lebanon as well as the Arab initiative on Lebanon,” he said.
That initiative calls for the election of army chief General Michel Sleiman as president, the formation of a national unity government in which no single party has veto power and a new electoral law.
As a mediator, league chief Amr Mussa has repeatedly failed to push the proposal through to adoption.
Syria, which was for decades the power-broker in Lebanon, hosts its first Arab summit this weekend facing a boycott by two key players. Egypt and Saudi Arabia have said they will send only low-level delegations.
Diplomats have also said Jordan and Morocco would be represented by lower-level officials.
Even so, the official Syrian press on Thursday said the summit would be a success, free of the “US virus.” “It is enough for the Arab summit in Damascus that the American ghost is banished … It is enough that for the first time all its decisions and agreements will be free of the American virus,” state-owned daily Ath-Thawra wrote in an editorial.
At yesterday’s meeting, Muallem also spoke of the possibility of reconsidering the Arab peace initiative if Israel does not prove its intention to establish peace in the Middle East.
“We believe in a just and comprehensive peace but Israel, which is supported by the United States, is still unable to show a political will to create peace,” Muallem said. “Therefore we support what came out of our meeting in Cairo which is to study Arab options for the strategy of peace,” he said.
At that meeting, the foreign ministers said the “continuation of the Arab side to offer the Arab initiative for peace will be linked to Israel’s fulfillment of its obligations in the context of international texts for achieving peace in the region.” Nimr Hammad, an advisor to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, said the Palestinians objected to withdrawing the Arab initiative.
“We do not support withdrawing the Arab initiative because this would give Israel excuses and would weaken our position,” Hammad said. “If this happens, the headlines will say that Arabs refuse peace,” he said.
