Posted on 07/14/2008 12:07:46 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
The European Union and its Mediterranean neighbours launched a new platform for their relationship on Sunday at a summit boosted by a promise from Lebanon and Syria to open embassies in each other’s capital.
Leaders of more than 40 countries attended the inaugural session of the Union for the Mediterranean, a project conceived by Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, as a way to bridge differences between the EU and the states of north Africa and the Middle East.
As the ceremonies got under way at the majestic Grand Palais in Paris, the spotlight fell on Ehud Olmert, Israel’s prime minister, and Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president, whose countries, bitter enemies since 1948, have held three rounds of indirect talks since March with Turkey as a mediator.
It was the first time that an Israeli and a Syrian leader had been seated in the same room, but the new union’s plenary session was carefully choreographed so that Mr Assad and Mr Olmert neither exchanged words nor shook hands.
Moreover, Mr Assad made it plain that he saw no prospect of direct peace talks with Israeli leaders at least until George W. Bush, the US president, left office next January.
For his part, Mr Olmert underlined that the US-supported negotiations Israel is conducting with Palestinian leaders were his immediate priority.
After meeting Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, on the sidelines of the Paris summit, Mr Olmert declared: “It seems to me that we have never been as close to the possibility of reaching an accord as we are today.”
In concrete terms, however, the most striking outcome of the weekend’s diplomatic activity appeared to be the announcement that Syria would open an embassy in Beirut and Lebanon an embassy in Damascus for the first time since Lebanese independence in 1943.
Such a step would imply Syrian acceptance of the sovereignty of Lebanon, a state where Damascus has always sought to exert influence and where Syrian troops were stationed for almost 30 years after 1976.
“We can say that Lebanon has moved from being a zone of turbulence, a war zone, to a more pacified zone where the Lebanese, and only the Lebanese, have the right to determine their own future,” Mr Assad said after talks on Saturday with Michel Suleiman, Lebanon’s president.
Since taking power in 2000, Mr Assad has on several occasions dangled the prospect of diplomatic recognition of Lebanon. If there is a difference this time, it may rest in Mr Sarkozy’s statement on Saturday that he intends to visit Syria in September – a gesture that the French leader could withdraw, if by then Mr Assad has not fulfilled his promise to open an embassy in Lebanon.
France froze relations with Syria after the 2005 assassination of Rafiq Hariri, the late Lebanese prime minister. Western governments suspected Syrian involvement in the killing, a charge Damascus denied.
Since a power-sharing deal in Lebanon was agreed in May, Mr Sarkozy has sought to build a better relationship with Mr Assad – an effort crowned by the Syrian leader’s attendance at Monday’s Bastille Day celebrations in Paris.
But the disagreements between Mr Assad and western leaders were underlined at the weekend when he asserted that he did not believe Iran, with which Syria has close relations, was seeking nuclear weapons.
I guess the plan for Greater Syria is right on schedule.
Could the Union of the Mediterranean be the revived Roman Empire? Most prophecy watchers have always assumed the EU would fill this role; now this has sprung to life very quickly. Veddy interesting.
MM
I’m so sick of breakthroughs in the middle east. Nothing ever gets better there unless outsiders come in and shoot a lot of people. It’s depressing. I think I have lived thru at least 35 “breakthroughs” in my life and none of them ever made any difference at all.
Compare the maps the the new Mediterranean Union and the Old Roman Empire.
Yeah, I’ve been researching the issue since my first post. This gets more interesting all the time, and that’s an understatement.
MM
raptureready.com has some great articles on this and much more. I know one thing I would not want to be on Gods bad side in the next 10-20 years.
I’m going to private mail both you guys.
Breakthrough? Not. Just means more threats to the ONLY true Democracy and free state in the region.
Yeah, the embassies will make giving & taking orders a lot easier on all concerned.
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