US, EU & Russian Mideast Envoys Meet in Beirut

01/04/2001| IslamWeb

BEIRUT, (Islamweb & Agencies) -Middle East envoys from the United States, Europe and Russia have met for consultations, Russian envoy Andrei Vdovin said here Friday.
The head of the Middle East department of the Russian foreign ministry said he met Thursday with US Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East, William Burns, and the European Union's Middle East envoy, Miguel Angel Moratinos.
He was speaking to reporters after meeting with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.
"We agreed that all parties should show restraint and avoid escalation, as it is only through dialogue and diplomatic channels that an overall solution can be reached on the basis of land for peace, as laid out in the Madrid conference" which launched the Arab-Israeli peace process in 1991.
He added that "this consultation will continue" and that Russia considers that "an overall settlement on all tracks, including the Israeli-Syrian side and the Israeli-Lebanese side was more needed than ever." (Read photo caption below)
After meeting the Russian envoy, the Lebanese president saw Burns and Moratinos.
Burns said Friday after talks with Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud that Washington wanted to break the cycle of violence so as to relaunch the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis.
He said he had also stressed "the importance the US attaches to its relationship with Lebanon and we discussed a wide range of both bilateral and regional issues."
He also emphasised the commitment of the US administration to a return to the peace process on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 -- requiring Israel to give up occupied territory -- and the principle of land for peace adopted at the Madrid conference.
For his part, Hammoud defended "the legitimate Lebanese claim to the Shebaa farm," a disputed area seized by Israel from Syria in 1967, and now claimed by Lebanon, which Hezbollah is fighting to "recover" on behalf of Beirut.
Burns, who arrived Thursday in Beirut to discuss regional tension and the results of the recent Middle East tour of US Secretary of State Colin Powell -- which missed out Lebanon -- left to Damascus later Friday.
PHOTO CAPTION:
On Sunday, an Israeli air raid destroyed a Syrian position in Eastern Lebanon.Earlier Lebanese Islamic Resistance group, Hezbollah had attacked an Israeli position in a disputed piece of land on the border with Israel known as the Shebaa Farm.
In April an Israeli air raid also destroyed a Syrian radar position in Lebanon.