Word: assad
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...summit, Syrian President Bashar Assad demanded the scrapping of the Arab peace initiative, a seven-year-old Saudi plan that offers collective Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for the return of occupied territory and the establishment of a Palestinian state. Assad's call was intended to signal anger toward Israel, but it also served as a swipe at the Saudi architects of the initiative, with whom he is feuding...
Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned Israel in a television interview that Israel's attack on Gaza is "sowing seeds of extremism" around the Arab world. His words may prove prophetic: yesterday an audio message purportedly from al-Qaeda's fugitive leader, Osama bin Laden, surfaced calling on Muslims to wage a holy war against Israel. With reporting by Jamil Hamad/Bethlehem and Aaron J. Klein/Jerusalem...
...remain hopeful that all influential states in the region - including Syria - will do their part to help end this violence and human tragedy," says a French official, referring to Sarkozy's appeal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to exert influence on Hamas when the two men met in Damascus on Tuesday. "We think Syria could greatly contribute to peace in the region in general terms but could also help end the current crisis, in particular by making Hamas see reason...
...Sarkozy ended Assad's long stint of international isolation by making Syria a founding member of the newly formed Mediterranean Union. Although Sarkozy faced heated criticism in July for embracing Assad - who is denounced by human rights activists and widely accused of orchestrating the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri - the French President has defended the move as realpolitik designed to turn an enemy into an ally. That argument will now be put to the test...
...Sarkozy is expected to press Assad to help find an end to the Gaza bloodshed - notably by pressuring Hamas to fulfill Israeli demands that it stop firing rockets. Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Meshal seems willing to accept that condition in exchange for Israel's reopening border crossings that have economically asphyxiated Gaza - an issue that could eventually force a change in Egypt's closure of its frontier...