SYRIA: Mr Cowen yesterday met the Syrian President, writes Deaglán de Bréadún, Foreign Affairs Correspondent.
While Syria did not wish to undermine efforts for Middle East peace, its concerns had been marginalised in the road map towards a settlement, the country's Foreign Minister has said.
Mr Farouk Al-Shara was speaking at a joint news conference in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, who is on a working visit to the Middle East. Mr Al-Shara said this particular aspect of the road map, devised by the US, UN, EU and Russia, was "unacceptable" to his government.
But he stressed yesterday that Syria was not rejecting the document in its entirety: "Syria doesn't undermine the road map because it understands the Palestinian situation in the occupied territories, how much suffering and agony they have come through. We understand also the absence of security and the savage action taken by the occupying forces in the Palestinian territories against unarmed civilians. Let's give some hope to the road map, to the peace process, because in all cases we have no objection to the progress made on the Palestinian front."
Asked by The Irish Times if Syria felt under military threat from US forces and how he saw relations with the US developing in the future, Mr Al-Shara replied: "It is very difficult to tell the future of the relations between any two countries, but we hope of course that relations between the US and Syria are going to improve. We are in favour of dialogue, we have proven that we are serious about this and if there were any weak points, any snags, any shortfall in this dialogue, it is not because of Syria. It is either because of lack of understanding in the \ administration or because of a third party, that is Israel, to say it openly and frankly, that is interfering in the relations between Syria and the US in a negative, unjust and sinister way sometimes."
Earlier, Mr Cowen had a 90-minute meeting in Aleppo with the Syrian President, Dr Bashar Al-Assad. Sources afterwards described the Syrian leader's attitude to the road map as one of "positive neutrality". The President was happy to see progress made on the Palestinian issue but was also concerned that the document failed to address Syrian and Lebanese concerns.
Sources said the President also pointed out that, while Syrian relations with the Palestinian President had not been good over the past 20 years, Mr Yasser Arafat could not be ignored in the efforts to reach a settlement. He had the support of the Palestinian people and, if he could not control Hamas, how was the Prime Minister, Mr Mahmoud Abbas supposed to control the militants in the event that Mr Arafat was sidelined? On US-Syrian relations, it is understood the President acknowledged there were difficulties but Syria was open to dialogue with the US and he pointed to the good co-operation between his country and the EU.
At the meeting in the presidential palace, Mr Cowen expressed concern at apparent stresses in the US-Syrian relationship. Ireland enjoyed good relations with the US and would be available to assist in easing strains, in the context of full Syrian support for the road map.
The Minister said there had to be an end to violence. The road map provided a very special "window of opportunity" because it had the US and the rest of the international community fully behind it. Mr Cowen also stressed the need for Arab states to cease providing funds for terrorist activities.
The Minister concludes his six-day working visit to the Middle East today with a series of meetings in Beirut with Lebanese government leaders. He has also visited Egypt, the Palestinian territories and Jordan.