Moallem: We have a big heart but Jumblatt must decide what he wants

Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said on Saturday that his country wants stability in Lebanon and supports the holding of the June 7 legislative elections on time, adding that Damascus is ready to hold normal relations with all Lebanese leaders including the head of the Future movement MP Saad Hariri, saying: "We have a big heart, we forgive."

Speaking to al-Jazeera television on Saturday, Moallem referred to his country's relationship with the head of the Democratic Gathering MP Walid Jumblatt, emphasizing that "Jumblatt has to decide what he wants, if he wishes to visit Syria, we shall take that under consideration."

He said that he had discussed Lebanon with visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, adding that they both agreed that Syrian-Lebanese relations could not be changed due to geographic and historic facts.

However, he added that the United States has to abandon all of its previous practices saying that "the world faced difficult problems on all levels during the George Bush administration."

SYRIA WILL SPARE NO EFFORT TO COMPLETE ARAB RECONCILIATION

Moallem said that Syria's efforts, through heading the Arab Summit, didn't stop one day to achieve Arab solidarity to confront the risks facing the nation, pointing out that the title of Damascus summit was summit of Arab solidarity.

He underlined that President Bashar al-Assad had led the Syrian diplomacy throughout this period to get to where we are regarding the Arab reconciliation and in preparation for a successful Arab summit in Doha to be an important opportunity in the way of the joint Arab action.

He stressed that Syria wants the summit to be a summit of Arab reconciliation and of challenging and confronting the ‘Israeli' aggression as well as a summit of a new regional security.

The foreign minister pointed out that Syria does not change its convictions, It is a state of confrontation and in a state of war with ‘Israel' and its territories are occupied, so it is natural to seek to acquire power factors and at the same time believes that peace does not come by the political work only, but through the support of the resistance, which is a legitimate right to all peoples. "Syria will spare no effort to complete the reconciliation in order to be comprehensive and Arab differences should be managed by mature and objective scientific thinking in order to avoid rapture," he added.

On the Syrian-Saudi relations, the Syrian Foreign Minister said when Syria found an opportunity for the initiative of the Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz at the summit of Kuwait, it didn't hesitate to activate it where the four-way summit in Riyadh was held and effort will be completed to build reconciliation on firm basis of clear understanding of main goals of the Arab strategy.

The minister said the Palestinian issue is ranked the first Arab priorities and Arab leaders unanimously agree on the stability and unity of Iraq's people and lands and its Arab identity as an important part of the Arab nation.