Forty-three nations, including Israel and various Arab states, agreed in the course of the past two days to work for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.
But even as their leaders launched an unprecedented "Union for the Mediterranean" aimed at securing peace across the region, deep divisions surfaced during the summit talks, highlighting how hard it will be to parlay the meeting's goodwill and words into real progress.
Syria's President Bashar Assad refused to shake hands with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
"We are not seeking symbols," Assad said on French television. There was no joint photograph at the meeting's end because some Arab leaders refused to be photographed with Olmert, and Morocco's king snubbed the meeting altogether because it was attended by the president of rival Algeria.
Still, Assad did acknowledge that Israel and Syria were moving toward reconciliation. "We have no other choice but peace," he told France-2 TV. And he suggested that, once direct Israeli-Syrian talks were launched, a complete peace accord could take six months to two years to implement if both sides were "serious."
So, Syria is basically saying that they will have to be peaceful with Israel. But take a look at the Iranian reaction:
An Iranian official has warned that a peace agreement between Israel and Syria would lead to radical changes in relations between Teheran and Damascus, DPA reported Monday.
Hussein Shariatmadari, an advisor to Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reportedly told London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat that this was his personal view, "but I think that the signing of such an agreement would be also against the opinion of Iran, the Iranian government and the Iranian people."
Iran, he said, was unhappy with talks between Israel and Islamic countries. "We always say there is no country called Israel in the region. This country is called Palestine. So, it is normal that we reject any negotiations between an Islamic state, like Syria or Turkey, and an illegitimate, non-existent state," Shariatmadari said.
And you want to entrust these people with nuclear technology? Have you suffered brain damage??
Travis
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