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Arab League to Asharq Al-Awsat: Differences Persist on Restoring Syria Membership

The Arab League headquarters is seen in Cairo, Egypt December 20, 2016. (Reuters)
The Arab League headquarters is seen in Cairo, Egypt December 20, 2016. (Reuters)
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Arab League to Asharq Al-Awsat: Differences Persist on Restoring Syria Membership

The Arab League headquarters is seen in Cairo, Egypt December 20, 2016. (Reuters)
The Arab League headquarters is seen in Cairo, Egypt December 20, 2016. (Reuters)

Arab League Assistant Secretary General Hossam Zaki stated that differences still persist between Arab countries over restoring Syria's membership at the organization.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that discussions on Syria's membership arise ahead of any Arab League ministerial meeting or summit, citing efforts by Algeria, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates to end Damascus' isolation.

"Ultimately, no progress has been made," he revealed, saying: "Consensus is necessary."

Consensus will not be possible amid the differences in positions among members, "but we are following the issue closely to determine whether we can resolve them before the next Arab League meeting," Zaki added.

Syria's membership was suspended in 2011 over its brutal crackdown on peaceful anti-regime protesters at the start of its conflict.

The Arab League had suspended its work for over a month due to the coronavirus pandemic. A summit had been scheduled for Algeria in March, but it has been postponed. Meetings and talks have been held by telephone and video conference.

Zaki said the organization has gradually been resuming its work in line with the preventive measures adopted by Egypt, where the Arab League is based. The organization's headquarters are regularly sterilized and disinfected and employees are being tested for the virus.

The situation is so far "reassuring", he stated.

On whether the Arab League will resume its meetings normally, he said this issue will take time and at the moment, "we must rely on digital platforms."

He hoped that Arab countries will end up taking advantage of the pandemic to develop closer bonds and resilience in confronting natural disasters.

Zaki predicted that the world will contend with the repercussions of the pandemic for a "long time and they will, unfortunately, not be easily overcome, especially after opponents of globalization in the West discovered that they lacked the national means to produce the main gear needed to combat the outbreak."

"They were reluctantly forced to turn to foreign manufacturers. This will definitely leave its mark on the coming phase and our Arab countries will be affected by this in varying degrees," he said.

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Hochstein to Asharq Al-Awsat: Land Border Demarcation between Lebanon, Israel ‘is Within Reach’

AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon
AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon
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Hochstein to Asharq Al-Awsat: Land Border Demarcation between Lebanon, Israel ‘is Within Reach’

AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon
AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon

The former US special envoy, Amos Hochstein, said the maritime border agreement struck between Lebanon and Israel in 2022 and the ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hezbollah at the end of last year show that a land border demarcation “is within reach.”

“We can get to a deal but there has to be political willingness,” he said.

“The agreement of the maritime boundary was unique because we’d been trying to work on it for over 10 years,” Hochstein told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“I understood that a simple diplomatic push for a line was not going to work. It had to be a more complicated and comprehensive agreement. And there was a real threat that people didn’t realize that if we didn’t reach an agreement we would have ended up in a conflict - in a hot conflict - or war over resources.”

He said there is a possibility to reach a Lebanese-Israeli land border agreement because there’s a “provision that mandated the beginning of talks on the land boundary.”

“I believe with concerted effort they can be done quickly,” he said, adding: “It is within reach.”

Hochstein described communication with Hezbollah as “complicated,” saying “I never had only one interlocutor with Hezbollah .... and the first step is to do shuttle diplomacy between Lebanon, Lebanon and Lebanon, and then you had to go to Israel and do shuttle diplomacy between the different factions” there.

“The reality of today and the reality of 2022 are different. Hezbollah had a lock on the political system in Lebanon in the way it doesn’t today.”

North of Litani

The 2024 ceasefire agreement requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanon and for the Lebanese army to take full operational control of the south Litani region, all the way up to the border. It requires Hezbollah to demilitarize and move further north of the Litani region, he said.

“I don’t want to get into the details of other violations,” he said, but stated that the ceasefire works if both conditions are met.

Lebanon’s opportunity

“Lebanon can rewrite its future ... but it has to be a fundamental change,” he said.

“There is so much potential in Lebanon and if you can bring back opportunity and jobs - and through economic and legal reforms in the country - I think that the future is very bright,” Hochstein told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Hezbollah is not trying to control the politics and remember that Hezbollah is just an arm of Iran” which “should not be imposing its political will in Lebanon, Israel should not be imposing its military will in Lebanon, Syria should not. No one should. This a moment for Lebanon to make decisions for itself,” he added.