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- WORLD, Page 47World NotesMIDDLE EASTTime Heals Most Wounds
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- Syria led the Arab chorus of condemnation when Egypt began
- peace negotiations with Israel, breaking off diplomatic
- relations shortly after Anwar Sadat's visit to Jerusalem in
- 1977, two years before the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty was
- signed. And Syria remained the most stubborn holdout until last
- week, when Damascus and Cairo announced that the two countries
- would resume relations after a twelve-year hiatus. The restored
- ties will be celebrated sometime in January at a meeting
- between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President
- Hafez Assad. One possibly helpful result of their detente: a
- moderation in Syrian opposition to current Middle East peace
- initiatives.
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- Syria thus becomes the next to last of the 17 Arab countries
- to welcome Egypt back into the fold. In recent months, Assad
- has felt increasingly isolated, especially after the Soviet
- Union served notice that it would no longer support his aim of
- strategic parity with Israel. Now only Libya lacks diplomatic
- relations with Egypt, but even Tripoli is making an attempt to
- smooth its dealings with Cairo: last October Libyan leader
- Muammar Gaddafi paid his first visit to Egypt in 16 years to
- meet with Mubarak. By all accounts the session was businesslike
- but amicable.
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