During his recent visit to Syria, Ibrahim Nafie gauged the feelings of officials on a host of regional issues Syria has come in for more than its share of invective. It has been accused of supporting the Iraqi resistance, allowing Arab volunteers to infiltrate across its borders into Iraq, and even harbouring rebel leaders. Ten Palestinian organisations have representative offices in Syria. On the pretext that some of these directed resistance operations against Israel, Tel Aviv bombarded a location on the outskirts of Damascus last year. Syria has also been charged with supporting the Lebanese Hizbullah, one of the reasons behind the international pressure on Damascus to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, for which purpose UN Security Council Resolution 1559 was issued. My recent visit to Syria proved an invaluable and timely opportunity to hear the Syrian viewpoint on these and other issues. Given the gravity of the accusations levelled against Syria concerning Iraq it is not surprising that this subject dominated my conversations with the many Syrian officials and intellectuals I met. In general, Syrians feel that the accusations are unjust and unfounded. For one, they ignore the demographic realities of the two neighbouring Arab countries. The kinship relations of several tribes, such as the Shamar, extend across the Syrian-Iraqi border. In addition, Syria has offered refuge to hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who fled the tyranny of the Saddam regime or the chaos that followed its collapse. The Syrians maintain that the current situation in Iraq is the product of the intransigence and recklessness of the Saddam dictatorship, which paved the way for the US-led invasion and occupation on the pretext of non-existent WMDs, and the occupation's subsequent dismantling of Iraq's security agencies. They added that the Iraqi resistance only acquired momentum when the Iraqi people realised that the invaders had come not as liberators but as occupiers. However, the Syrians insist their country had no hand in supporting the resistance. It was only natural for the Iraqi people to fight to liberate their country and their ranks hardly need to be supplemented from abroad. In all events, they stressed, Washington was fully aware Damascus has done everything in its power to tighten security along the border and prevent infiltration. Ultimately, however, the only solution to the Iraqi problem is for sovereignty to be handed back to the people of Iraq, for occupation forces to depart and Iraq to be restored to the Arab fold according to mechanisms supervised by the UN and Arab League. In Lebanon many religious and political groupings are clamouring for an end to Syrian involvement in Lebanese domestic affairs and the withdrawal of Syrian troops. In Syria the people I spoke with hold that Syria and Lebanon are bound by historical and fraternal bonds and that most Lebanese support the special Syrian-Lebanese relationship. The reason the Syria/Lebanon issue is being given such play at present, they believe, is because the US and Israel are using it to weaken Syria's hand and drive it into accepting a settlement on Israel's terms. Security Council Resolution 1559 is part of this campaign and reflects the influence of the Zionist lobby. Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon will not serve the stability and security of either country, nor ultimately the interests of the US. Nonetheless, Damascus has responded positively and realistically to the resolution by implementing an initial phase of withdrawal and redeployment. Our hope is that they continue in this vein, for regardless of the justice or impartiality of the resolution it has become an instrument of international legitimacy and must be respected. On Al-Assad's initiative regarding Syrian- Israeli negotiations, it is important to view it in context. When asked by UN envoy Terje Larson whether Syria was ready to resume negotiations with Israel unconditionally, the Syrian president responded that "Syria is ready for peace." "There are international resolutions and previous negotiations [to build on]. Syria has no preconditions," he continued. It is difficult to understand the confusion this statement caused. The Syrian position has not changed; it was merely re-affirmed by the Syrian president who gave no indication whatsoever that he was prepared to sacrifice progress made in earlier negotiations bartered by no less than the US. This is not a precondition but rather a logical position, in keeping with the rules and conventions of international diplomacy. It was Israel which, after years of claiming that it was ready to resume negotiations with Syria unconditionally, suddenly produced a lengthy list of preconditions. The effect of Al- Assad's announcement, therefore, was to expose Israel as the real obstacle to a comprehensive peace accord with Syria. Palestinian offices in Syria are another card Israel and the US have been using to intimidate Damascus. The Syrians vehemently deny the accusations that have been levelled against them in this regard. The Palestinian offices are engaged solely in publicity and the dissemination of information, though even these activities were halted by faction leaders in an attempt to alleviate US pressures on Damascus. With an Arab summit in the offing the question of the feebleness of inter-Arab cooperation surfaces more forcefully than usual. The Syrians point to the enormous progress the Europeans have made towards regional integration while the Arabs, who began the process at about the same time, have yet to get beyond square one. They attribute our inability to realise our aspirations to the failure of Arab governments to rise above narrow national interests and embrace a common pan-Arab vision and spirit. The contention is valid. Yet more important at this juncture, I feel, is for the Arabs to put their heads together in order to develop and enhance existing regional institutions and processes in a manner that strikes a realistic balance between national and pan-national needs. If participants in the forthcoming Arab summit bear this in mind, they will have an opportunity to create the foundations for strong and effective inter-Arab cooperation.
