May 2, 2003	Friday	Safar 29, 1424

BEIRUT, May 1: Syria is ready for an open debate with the United States over differences between them, Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara said here on Thursday, ahead of a visit to Damascus by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Mr Shara, who arrived here earlier for talks with Lebanese officials ahead of that trip, which will also bring Powell to Lebanon, said “we will welcome Mr. Powell to Damascus with pleasure and with the appropriate hospitality.

“He can put to us his ideas within the framework of dialogue (and) explain his views on events in the region,” he added, speaking at a press conference with his Lebanese counterpart, Jean Obeid.

“We will respond to these points without a spirit of aggressiveness,” Shara said, while adding that “we will not respond to demands.”

Mr Powell arrived in Spain on Thursday. He was set to fly to Syria on Friday and then to Lebanon the following day.

He is expected to discuss with the Lebanese and Syrians concerns in Washington over anti-Israel groups operating in the two countries and to press Damascus on its alleged support for terrorism and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.

Asked about US pressure on Damascus to end its support for Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Shara said: “I will not respond to any question about demands, because no one has demanded anything of us.”

However, he reiterated the Syrian position that Hezbollah is a “political party integrated into the Lebanese social fabric.”

And he added: “In the absence of peace and with the permanent presence of occupation, eyes should be turned toward the Israeli occupation before looking at those who are fighting against that occupation.”

That was presumably a reference to the fact that Syria and its client state, Lebanon, are still technically at war with Israel and to the Israeli occupation of territory captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and now claimed by Lebanon with the approval of Damascus.

Hezbollah was a driving force behind the military campgain that led to Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon two years ago after an occupation of nearly two decades.

Turning to calls for Damascus to back the internationally drafted “roadmap” for an Israel-Palestinian peace, Shara said “we talk and we have constructive meetings with the objective of achieving common understanding, and that will apply to the roadmap just as it does to other issues.

“We have faith in dialogue and not in the presentation of a list of demands,” he added.

After arriving in Beirut, Shara said he had come to “to deliver a letter to President (Emile) Lahoud from President Bashar al-Assad and to discuss with him Colin Powell’s visit to the region and matters of common interest to both countries.”

Before meeting with Lahoud, Shara met with Obeid. The two discussed “issues concerning Lebanon and Syria, the situation in Iraq, what is happening on the Palestinian scene and bilateral relations,” an official said.

Shara also said Syria was “analyzing” a call by French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin Wednesday for Syrian troops to pull out of Lebanon.

Obeid rejected the French call, saying the same day that Syria’s presence was a matter solely between the two countries.

“Their presence is set out in the inter-Lebanese peace agreement of Taif, supported by the United Nations and the Arab League. It is also a feature of the treaty of fraternity, cooperation and coordination signed between Lebanon and Syria,” Obeid said.

During the press conference, Obeid said there would be contacts with Paris to “clarify matters and put them in their proper perspective, in a spirit of cooperation and of a special relationship with France.”

Although the Syrian troop presence in Lebanon has fallen from 35,000 men to under 20,000, Damascus has shown that it intends to retain control of the situation, overseeing on April 17 the formation of a new Lebanese government even more pro-Syrian than its predecessor.

The French-language Lebanese daily L’Orient-Le Jour labeled Obeid’s response as “officialese” in an editorial on Wednesday saying “it was no longer acceptable in an era of regional and changes.” That was a reference to the recent toppling of the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Washington’s stern warnings to Syria to end its support of terrorist groups. —AFP