MIDDLE EAST: Syrian president Bashar Assad yesterday reiterated his country's support for the struggle of the Palestinian people after a meeting with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
During an official lunch which brought Mr Abbas together with exiled Palestinian figures, Dr Assad said: "Palestinian national unity is essential if Palestinians are to restore their land and meet current challenges."
He said he would continue to urge all factions to honour the ceasefire agreement reached in Egypt last February.
The statement indicated that Mr Abbas had secured a commitment from Dr Assad to press the leaders of dissident Palestinian factions with offices in Damascus to maintain the suspension of attacks on Israel, and to co-operate with the Palestinian Authority's security forces as they take control of Gaza after Israel's withdrawal, scheduled to begin in mid-August.
A peaceful Israeli pull-out would boost Mr Abbas's waning domestic credibility and enable him to demand a prompt resumption of negotiations over the West Bank once Israel completes its evacuation of settlers and troops from all 21 Gaza settlements and four northern West Bank colonies.
On Wednesday Mr Abbas held discussions with Ahmad Jibril, head of the pro-Syrian Popular Front General Command, and Khaled Mishaal, overall leader of the Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement.
Mr Abbas again appealed to Hamas to join the government of premier Ahmad Korei, but this was rejected. But Hamas has said it is prepared to join a committee of all Palestinian factions to co-ordinate policy on Israel's withdrawal.
Ten Palestinian opposition groups have been based in the Syrian capital since the 1980s, but they closed their offices there two years ago under strong US pressure. After the withdrawal of Syria's troops and intelligence apparatus from Lebanon at the end of April, Washington renewed its demand that Damascus should cut all ties with the Palestinian dissidents and halt foreign fighters crossing into Iraq from Syrian territory. In response to the second demand, Syria has deployed 7,000 additional troops along its frontier with Iraq and stepped up scrutiny of foreign Islamists.
Mr Abbas flew from Damascus to Beirut for discussions yesterday with the Lebanese president Emile Lahoud and leaders of the 400,000-strong Palestinian community there about disarming the refugee camps, another demand put forward by the US. Palestinians consider weapons essential to their security and can be expected to rebuff any suggestion by Mr Abbas that they should disarm.
