Mubarak-Bashar Meeting to Enhance Arab Stances: AL OfficialThe Arab League (AL) said on Friday the upcoming Egyptian-Syrian summit meeting will boost Arab stances on "vital and crucial" issues facing the Arab nation.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will visit Egypt on Sunday at the outset of his first trip abroad since assuming office in July. He is expected to discuss with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak the Arab-Israeli peace talks, especially on the Syrian track. Bashar reportedly will also travel to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. The pan-Arab forum welcomes the Egyptian-Syrian summit which will strengthen the Arab stance with respect to challenges to the Arab countries, the league's assistant secretary general, Ahmad Ben Hely, said. Such an Arab high-level meeting will always give momentum to joint Arab action in all fields, Hely told Egypt's official Middle East News Agency. He asserted that security and stability would not be realized in the Middle East unless the Syrian-Israeli peace talks are revived. The negotiations were suspended in January due to disputes over the future of the Golan Heights that Israel occupied from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War. The league official reiterated the league's firm support for Syria's stance that Israel must withdraw from the strategic plateau completely. |
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