Arabs Cool to Syria’s Call for Boycott of Britain

Most Arab nations reacted coolly to Syria’s call for a boycott of Britain after London broke ties with Damascus over an attempt to blow up an Israeli jetliner.

Only Libya officially supported the call for a boycott.

Britain broke relations with Syria on Friday after Jordanian Nezar Hindawi was convicted in London of trying to blow up an Israeli airliner April 17 by planting explosives in his girlfriend’s luggage before she was to board her flight at London’s Heathrow Airport. Britain said it has firm evidence that Syria was involved in the attempted bombing, which was foiled by security personnel of El Al Israel Airlines.

The United States withdrew its ambassador from Damascus, and Canada brought its envoy home for consultations, a slightly less serious move.

Seeking Better Relations

Here in the Syrian capital, Foreign Minister Farouk Shareh told a gathering of Common Market ambassadors--excluding the British envoy--that Syria is “keen to promote relations” with their countries.

Premier Abdel-Raouf Kasm told his Cabinet, “Syria will not accept the policy of pressure, blackmail and threats.”

State-run Syrian newspapers Saturday urged Arab countries to boycott Britain, and a commentator on the official Damascus radio said Britain “will have to pay the price for this hostile step based on lies, allegations and deliberate provocations.”

Syria earlier closed its airspace, ports and territorial waters to Britain and gave the 19 British diplomats in Damascus a week to leave the country.

Libya also closed its airspace to British planes. On Sunday, its Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling on “all Arab countries to cut relations with the United States and Britain and withdraw their money from British and American banks.”

Most Arab leaders remained silent on the Syrian-British dispute.

In the first official response from a Persian Gulf country, Kuwait’s minister for Cabinet affairs, Rashid Abdulaziz Rashid, said, “Kuwait profoundly regrets these negative developments.”

He told reporters that his country “expresses disappointment over attempts to defame the Arab world, particularly when Israel carries out such frenzied efforts to escalate such differences and channel them in a manner that harms good relations between the Arab world and Western nations.”

Algeria’s Foreign Ministry released a statement declaring its “complete solidarity with its sister, Syria” and saying it “assures her of its total support.”

But it did not mention Britain or any actions against that country.

Saudi Arabia on Monday released a statement expressing “regret” over the British-Syrian rift.

Meanwhile, Norway announced that it will open a consulate in Damascus despite the break.