International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, Dec. 19, 2002

Syrian President Bashar Assad ended his controversial four-day visit to Britain with an undiplomatic swipe at his host, Prime Minister Tony Blair, accusing him of ignoring the real issues at stake in the Israel-Palestinian conflict like an "ostrich that buries its head in the sand."

It is not the first time the Syrian leader has left Blair smarting after a high level meeting. Two years ago, in the first ever visit by a British head of State to Syria, Blair’s attempts to gather support for the US strike on Afghanistan were met by humiliating public criticism of British and American attitudes to Israel, during a joint press conference in Damascus.

Thursday editorials in the Israeli right and left wing press both expressed little surprise at Assad’s parting shot, a thinly veiled criticism of Blair’s latest efforts to invite leading Palestinian negotiators and representatives from the Arab governments to London to discuss the reform of the Palestinian Authority. Assad, after roundly dismissing the resident headquarters of many of the Middle East’s most lethal terror organizations in Damascus as merely "press offices," went on to assert Wednesday that Israel was using the issue of PA reform as a cover for imposing a weak and submissive leadership on the Palestinian people, to further Israeli control.

According to Ha’aretz, despite his slick anglophile demeanor, "Assad is still located far on the edges of the political discourse that has evolved in the Middle East." The paper went on to claim that his efforts "failed to persuade" Britain of "the purity of his intentions."

The Jerusalem Post in an editorial entitled ‘Pandering to Assad’, reserved their most stinging criticism for Blair himself, claiming that visit only demonstrated to the Palestinian "terror masters," that it is possible to back militant Islamic terrorism while being feted by Western democracies.

The fact that Syria’s dictatorial regime could get away with the now infamous ‘press office’ remark without facing any more serious sanction than a few ruffled diplomatic feathers, shows how desperate the West has become to gain Arab allies against Iraq, and how hardened European public opinion has become towards Israel.

"The reason for inviting Assad to London, after all, should have been to read him the riot act," quipped the Post editorial. But instead of taking him to task "for his sponsorship of terrorist groups, his lousy human rights record, and his brazen violation of UN sanctions on Iraq… he was greeted with pomp and ceremony and granted an audience with Her Majesty the Queen."