Syrian Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam has rejected President Reagan’s Middle East peace plan and warned his country will thwart any Lebanese-Israeli agreement that threatens Syrian interests, Damas:us radio reported Friday.
The state-run radio quoted Khaddam as telling a ministerial conference of the Non-aligned Movement in Managua, Nicaragua, the United States and Israel ‘aim at turning the Arab region into a colony and vital space for the imperialist system.’
He said his country would resist any plan not based on ‘the complete withdrawal (of Israel) from all occupied Arab territories and the recognition of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to repatriation, self-determination and the establishment of their independent state on their national soil.’
President Reagan’s proposal calls for a Palestinian ‘entity’ on the Israeli-occupied West Bank linked to Jordan.
‘The Reagan plan … is a plan to impose American-Zionist hegemony on the Arabs,’ Khaddam said, adding that collective Arab action must be taken to counter the plan.
He said Syria ‘will resist and try to thwart any attempt to impose any agreement that infringes on Lebanon’s unity and sovreignty over its territory, or infringe on Syria’s security and its interests.’
