Brazil, Lebanon vow to help ME peace process
BRAZIL: The Presidents of Brazil and Lebanon said Thursday the
two countries would cooperate in the United Nations Security Council for
a negotiated peaceful solution to the Mideast conflict.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Lebanese counterpart
General Michel Suleiman discussed the evolution of the Mideast conflict
during a meeting held at the headquarters of the foreign ministry.
Lula said Suleiman’s recent visit to Syria was the direction to be
followed by the agenda of peace and reconciliation Brazil and Lebanon
would take to the Security Council, where both countries currently hold
a non-permanent seat.
Lula said there will be no reconciliation in the Middle East as long
as Lebanon does not live in harmony and peace with its neighbors.
“There will be no peace for long-suffering Lebanese people while the
Arab-Israeli conflict, the issue of Palestinian refugees and
uncertainties about Iran’s nuclear program last,” he said.
The meeting took place a month after the Brazilian leader paid a
visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories to mediate a peace
agreement for the region.
“I am convinced that we may ‘catch the fish’. With the same
confidence in dialogue, I will go to Tehran in May,” Lula said.
For his part, Sleiman welcomed Lula’s initiative to engage in peace
efforts.
He said both parties “have the opportunity to extend political
support to defend law and justice, through the election of Brazil and
Lebanon as non-permanent members of the UN (Security) Council for the
biennium 2010-2011.”
“We will work together to find diplomatic solutions to problems on
the global stage, to stem violence and war,” he said.
Sleiman also urged Israel to respect Lebanon’s territorial
sovereignty and to stop threatening a new war against his country.
Last week, Sleiman convened an emergency meeting after Israel accused
Damascus of supplying ballistic missiles to the Lebanese guerrilla group
Hezbollah. Sleiman’s visit to Brazil coincides
Brasilia, Friday, Xinhua |
