King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Wednesday met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh as part of a regional tour that takes him to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. The King arrived in Sharm El-Sheikh from Casablanca, Morocco. Abdullah and Mubarak held wide-ranging talks Wednesday at a conference center in Sharm El-Shaikh. The two leaders discussed events and developments in the Arab world and focused on the Palestinian issue, the faltering peace process and the suffering being experienced by the Palestinian people due to the Israeli siege, demolition of their houses and confiscation of their lands. They stressed the importance of reaching a just and comprehensive solution that guarantees the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people according to legitimate international resolutions and the Arab peace initiative. The talks also covered the situation in Iraq and its need for a national government, formed without foreign intervention, to achieve security, stability and unity. King Abdullah and President Mubarak also addressed the situation in Lebanon and the need to ensure that leaders there disavow factional divisions. Additionally, the two leaders touched on the situation in Sudan and stressed the importance of ending internal differences in the African country to maintain its unity, security and stability. They also discussed the situation in Somalia and the need to stop the bloodshed there and achieve reconciliation among warring groups to ensure the country's stability and peace. The two leaders also reviewed overall developments in the Islamic and international arenas and the two countries'views toward these issues, in addition to discussing spheres of cooperation between the two nations and ways to boost cooperation in all areas, in the interest of the two countries' people. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques spent the night in Egypt before heading to Damascus Thursday for talks with Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad, and on to Beirut Friday for talks with Lebanese leaders. The tour is widely seen as an attempt to consolidate regional powers. In Beirut, the King will be joined by Assad. Speaking ahead of the King's meeting with President Assad, Syrian Minister of Culture Riyadh Na'san Agha said it would have a “considerable effect on improving the climate of joint Arab efforts”. Agha told Okaz/SG that Syria took Arab solidarity and its “outstanding relations” with the Kingdom as its launch pad for the talks, describing the Kingdom as “our country, and its people our people”. “We have a long and profound history between us going back to before Islam, and our relations are those of a single family,” Agha said. “While there may be misunderstandings between brothers, the constant is that they are brothers joined by joint interests and a culture. When we talk about Saudi Arabia we are talking not of relations of cooperation and protocols, we are talking of a people who are our people.” It is a “spirit of brotherhood” that has reigned between Syria and the Kingdom in recent times, the minister said, with King Abdullah taking “honorable and noble positions”. The Lebanese Minister of Education and Higher Education, Hassan Mneimneh, meanwhile, said that King Abdullah's “historic” visit to Beirut on Friday would be wide-ranging in aims and content, and has come at a particularly pertinent time for the region. Dr. Abdulaziz Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information, before the Saudi-Egyptian summit, stressed that the visits of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques are gaining heightened importance because delicate circumstances being experienced by Arab nations need great efforts to address them to enable the Arab countries to unify their ranks.
