Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri left for Berlin on Wednesday “searching for European support in a spat with Washington,” reports said.
Hariri will hold talks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder during his one-day trip, focusing on the need to relaunch the Middle East peace process.
The two men will discuss the current situation in Afghanistan, the make-up of the post-Taliban government in Kabul, and Washington’s perceptions of terrorism, said the Daily Star.
The visit, said the daily, comes hard on the heels of last weekend’s talks in Paris with French President Jacques Chirac, who reportedly offered sympathy for the government’s predicament over discord with the United States regarding Hizbollah, which Lebanon venerates as a heroic resistance group despite Washington’s opposition.
Reports said that Hariri had been pushing a diplomatic initiative among European countries since Nov. 2, when the United States called for the finances of numerous "terrorist organizations" to be frozen.
The US demand that Hizbollah’s assets be frozen, and Beirut’s adamant rejection, had marked the first open dissent in the coalition.
The premier will make a strong pitch in Berlin for a more serious effort to rein in Israel and revive the Middle East peace process to uphold support for the international effort to drive out terrorism, one source close to Hariri remarked on the eve of the trip – Albawaba.com
