On Friday, the Syrian delegate to the UN Security Council, Fayssal Mekdad made a remark that has since then made some waves in the diplomatic community. “Not much different from the scene of the World Trade Center” he declared, when he referred to attacks made by Israeli forces on Palestinian targets. The statement came during a floor debate on terrorism in the UN Security Council.
It was Syria's first public statement since the beginning of the year when it joined the Security Council as a non-permanent member.
In an interview with Brit Hume from Fox News, US Secretary of State Colin Powell referred to this comment and to the general situation in the Middle East and stated, “The situation is very dangerous and very difficult. I am not going to start commenting on various Syrian diplomatic statements. But it is a difficult situation”.
Powell also remarked on Washington’s policy in the region, “The United States put down a vision of the way we wanted things to turn out and where we wanted to go. The President gave a powerful statement at the United Nations General Assembly, the first president who called for the Palestinian state to live side by side with Israel”.
Powell conveyed, “We haven't been able to get this moving on track because of the continued violence”, but added “what we have to talk about is how do we get the violence down and not go chasing off in hysterical Syrian statements”.
The U.S. Secretary of State also announced that the special envoy to the Middle East, Anthony Zinni would return to the region “when conditions permit him to”. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
