Egypt and Syria confirmed their agreement on the necessity of advancing the peace process, particularly on the Syrian track, from the point it reached in previous negotiations. They expressed their rejection of the Israeli leadership’s proposals to start the peace process from scratch.
The foreign ministers of both countries, Amr Moussa and Farouk Sharaa, emphasized during the press conference held at the end of discussions between Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam, Sharaa, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and the Egyptian leadership, that all tracks are interlinked. They affirmed that Egyptian-Syrian and Arab coordination will continue to follow the peace process with the aim of achieving a “balanced peace according to the principle of land for peace and the agreements that have been made,” as stated by Moussa.
Khaddam and Sharaa visited Cairo the day before yesterday, Saturday, and delivered a message from Syrian President Hafez al-Assad to the Egyptian President concerning the peace process and its progress over the past five years, as well as the results of the tour Khaddam and Sharaa undertook in several Arab countries.
Regarding whether the Egyptian-Syrian discussions addressed the issue of southern Lebanon and the possibility of Israeli proposals for Egyptian and other Arab parties to participate in forming a force to maintain security in the south, Moussa stated in remarks yesterday that “the discussions addressed the points related to the Syrian-Israeli track, and we briefly discussed the Lebanon issue.
