President Bashar al-Assad received on Monday a delegation from the Islamic National Conference which comprises leaders of parties, representatives, political and syndicate figures from several Arab and Islamic countries.
Talks during the meeting dealt with the concepts of nationalism, identity, and belonging. The talks affirmed that the victory of Gaza and the uprising of the Palestinian and Arab people proved that the Arabs are still attached to their identity despite all the schemes that were hatched and circulated in the Arab region under various names.
President Assad considered that the concept of Nationalism in its basic and essential meaning is an idea of belonging. He added that this concept should not be presented in an abstract ideological or theoretical framework, rather it should be based on facts. The linkage should be done between the ideological ideas on the one hand and the interests of the peoples on the other.
Assad went on to say that the Arab intellectual elite faces the challenge of convincing the people that there is a direct relation between belonging and interest. States of division, isolation, or sectarianism, when they occur in an Arab country, would move to the other countries, which means that “we cannot look at the Arab countries except as one pan-Arab arena.”
Members of the visiting delegation, for their part, lauded the resilience of the Syrian people in the face of all the events to which they have been exposed. They added that “Syria has paid and is still paying the price of its nationalist stances and its support for the resistance.”
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
