Bush refuses to talk to Assad - Report
4/16/2005 6:20:00 PM GMT

U.S. President George Bush refuses to talk to his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.
According to the pan-Arab daily Al Sharq Al Awsat, U.S. President George Bush will not sit down and talk to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad a U.S. official was quoted as saying.
"The United States is not at all happy with Syria's policies," the unnamed official told the London-based paper.
"Contact with the Syrian regime will remain at the lowest level and will not reach the point where President Bashar Al Assad finds himself at the same table as President George Bush."
Meanwhile, the Israeli daily Maariv on Thursday quoted U.S. officials as saying that "in private, American officials and in particular President Bush, say that Assad is a 'strange personality,' that he can't be trusted and that we must wait for him to leave the political arena."
"'Even in Syria, people are conscious of what's going on in the world and around them" say the Americans. (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon has heard from his partners that the "Syrian regime is about to collapse and won't survive the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon," the Israeli paper said.
Officials voice Syrian solidarity The Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ali Tuygan called on Washington to cooperate with Syria and Iran in order to solve pending issues and to further avoid confrontations.
The Anadulu News Agency quoted Tuygan as saying, during a meeting at the Washington Institute, that the Syrian-Turkish relations gave Turkey the opportunity to understand the situation in the region.
Meanwhile, in Paris, the Chairman of the Arab- French Solidarity society Lucien Peterlein underlined the society's absolute solidarity with Syria in the face of the current pressures it is exposed to.
According to Peterlein, "We stand by Syria in the face of pressures and threats against that aim at obliging it to abandon its firm principles." The statement hailed Syria's wise and brave leadership towards the existing pressures, stressing that Syria has opted for the way of peace and what is right.
In Kuwait, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said "Syria has met its commitments regarding withdrawal of the Syrian forces from Lebanon."
Speaking to the Kwuaiti 'al-Rai al-Am' paper, Aboul Gheit called upon the active states in the United Nations and the Security Council to work towards the resumption of the peace process in the region stressing that Syria is seriously willing to complete this process.