Hariri: Failure to advance peace process is a 'time-bomb'

Premier Saad Hariri stressed that the rise in extremism and nuclear proliferation are global threats, with the ongoing failure to achieve progress in the Mideast peace process as their major cause.

Hariri failed to set a date for his next trip to Damascus, but said the visit would take up the issues of border demarcation and bilateral agreements.

“A failure to make progress on the [regional] peace process front is a time-bomb, a weapon of mass destruction more dangerous than uranium enrichment,” Hariri said. “Any success in dealing with nuclear developments in the Middle East depends on the success in achieving a just and comprehensive [regional] peace.”

Speaking during a joint news conference with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, Hariri slammed Israel for hindering the peace process and rejecting a just and comprehensive settlement with the Arab world.

“It is clear that the increase in nuclear weapons and extremism are global threats; although their cause should not be restricted to one major issue, I believe that the major reason behind those threats is the constant failure to end the Arab-Israeli conflict and injustice toward the Palestinian people,” Hariri said.

“Consecutive Israeli governments over the last two decades haven’t show any interest in a comprehensive and just peace in the Arab world, while more than 50 Muslim states offered the Arab Peace Initiative in 2002 and the Israelis continue to disregard it,” he added.

Hariri stressed that the fight against extremism cannot be separated from efforts to achieve peace.

“This is true anytime and anywhere, particularly in the Middle East,” he said.