Foreign Minister Jean Obeid said that Israel was the only “obstacle” to the “road map” to peace in the region and asserted that US threats to Syria, Lebanon and Iran could not turn “injustice to justice.”
Speaking after a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Kamal Kharrazi, at the conference center in Tehran, Obeid said that the “obstacles to the road map are now in the behavior of Israel and in Israeli conditions for that plan; our position isn’t an obstacle, Israel is.”
Obeid said threats could not “turn injustice to justice and vice-versa … we hold on to international rights … regardless of intimidation or threat.”
Foreign ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) are meeting in Iran for three days. The meeting is being attended by all 57 member states, except Iraq, which was not invited due to the absence of legitimate authority.
Asked how Lebanon will face Israeli pressure, Obeid said that national unity and cooperation with Syria, Iran and Arab countries that refuse illegitimate foreign interference would help confront such pressure, together with some peace loving European countries.
He said the road map could lead to a solution for some Palestinian issues, but added that the issues of the diaspora and the right of return are barely mentioned, which are of great interest for Lebanon.
Obeid gave interviews Friday to several Arab, Lebanese and Iranian satellite channels, in addition to the press.
Asked if the OIC is able to protect Iran and Syria from US threats, Obeid said that this has never happened before, adding that “we are striving to turn this minimum level of understanding (between OIC members) to the maximum level, comprehensive understanding is a goal and not a reality for the moment.”
Asked if OIC members discussed the forming of a unified army to face US threats, the minister denied that such talks took place.
He said participants in the meetings are working to find the maximum level of common interests and concerns.
“There is no universal approval on all issues, nor a universal refusal on all issues,” Obeid said, adding that “we strove to find a common base … between us.”
Asked about Arab weakness toward the Palestinian issue and its impact on Arab and Islamic solidarity, Obeid said the issue was beyond Arab and Islamic countries.
“There is an attempt to go beyond the United Nations … this is an ongoing attempt,”
he said, referring to the United States’ “monopoly on decision-making.”