By Hadi Khatib
Lebanowire staff

The upcoming Arab Summit in Khartoum late this March looks more and more as an opportunity for Arab leaders to stamp their approval on the national dialogue, with intersecting interests from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria on how Lebanon deliberates on issues pertaining to the Shebaa Farms, Palestinian weapons, bilateral talks with Syria and the presidency.

Daily Ad-Diyar wrote today that the issues of Lebanon’s reconciliation with Syria and the Shebaa Farms will have to wait for the March 28 Arab Summit before any implementation gets underway. “These issues will be left for the Arab Summit leaders to decide, especially Egypt and Saudi Arabia,” the daily said.

Al-Hayat daily said on Thursday quoted sources from the Lebanese Premier’s office as saying that Fouad Siniora will not head to Syria before he receives international and Arab guarantees of the success of such bilateral talks adding “he (Siniora) prefers to wait for the Arab Summit to be held (in Khartoum) and listen to the discussions between Arab leaders on the sidelines of the meet, especially with respect to Lebanese-Syrian relations.”

The same sources said Siniora did not wish to go to Syria and agree on the formation of a follow-up committee that would oversee the redrawing of the border “an issue that could take years to implement and will leave the situation hanging and unresolved.”

Meanwhile, Siniora is leading a spirited diplomatic effort aimed at seeking consensus on decisions made at the roundtable talks in order to bring about an Arab umbrella of support. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa on Wednesday expressed his willingness to back any decision reached by participants at the dialogue, following a telephone conversation with Siniora. In the evening Siniora called Egyptian President Husni Mubaraq giving him the results that the talks have reached so far.

Mubaraq’s press relations office issued a statement saying Mubaraq welcomed the dialogue’s atmosphere of positive and constructive deliberation of issues as well as the results reached, while ensuring that Mubaraq always stands by Lebanon’s side on all its causes.

Siniora also communicated the dialogue’s results to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faysal, who showed the same enthusiasm and assured Siniora that he would deliver the message to Saudi Kind Abdullah.

Daily An-Nahar said the calls were made due to the nature of the decisions made at the dialogue, since Egypt had expressed prior interest in brokering a solution with the Palestinian weapons outside the refugee camps, while the Shebaa Farms and the bilateral relations with Syria grabbed the interest of “two Arab countries”. The daily said that, based on these facts, the dialogue’s results are tied to Lebanese-Arab issues which might require Arab intervention when needed.

Media reports had indicated that Siniora will soon head to Damascus in an effort to soften the tensed relations between the two countries but not before Faysal paves the way with visits to both countries first.

Siniora received international backing for the dialogue when UN Secretary General phoned him yesterday expressing his support for the process and urging the Prime Minister to work on keeping calm the border with Israel, especially after Israel announced a state of alert, expecting Hezbollah to abduct Israelis and conduct military operations in and around the Shebaa Farms.

For his part, Siniora asked Annan to pressure Israel into refraining from conducting over flights in Lebanese airspace.

Daily Al-Mustaqbal said Thursday that participants at the dialogue are now moving into a phase of implementing the decisions pertaining to proving the Lebanese Identity of the Shebaa Farms and focusing their efforts on the issue of the presidency, which is expected to be tackled in next week’s talks.

The daily said it asked Speaker Nabih Berri whether Arab countries are gearing their efforts to help Lebanon overcome its obstacles at the dialogue and did not receive a denial from Berri.

The daily said it had information of intense activities on the presidential issue, where leaders are considering either agreeing on removing Lahoud and postponing the elections for a later date, or agreeing and finding an immediate candidate that the parliament would vote in as the new president.

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