Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad on Saturday denied meddling in Lebanon as he hosted an Arab summit boycotted by half of the region's leaders, many of whom blame Damascus for the political crisis in Beirut. “I would like to make a point with regards to Syrian interference in Lebanon. It is the contrary which is true because pressure has been exerted on Syria for over a year to interfere in Lebanon's affairs” but we have refused to do so, Assad said. “They have their nation, their institutions, their constitution,” he said in an opening address to the leaders of Algeria, the Comoros, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Sudan, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. The Saudi, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders stayed away from the summit of the 22-member Arab League, accusing Syria of blocking the election of a new president in Lebanon. The seat earmarked for Lebanon itself was left vacant. Egypt sent a junior minister, while Saudi Arabia and Jordan were represented by their ambassadors to the Arab League. In Beirut, Lebanese university students at a demonstration tore up portraits of Assad and branded him an “assassin”. Hundreds of students took part in the protest near the downtown Beirut tomb of former slain premier Rafiq Hariri who was killed in a massive 2005 car bombing that was blamed on Syria, despite its repeated denials of involvement. At the opening of the summit, Arab League chief Amr Moussa stressed that regional stability depended on a solution to the Lebanese crisis. “The election of a Lebanese president... and the friendship between the two neighboring and brotherly countries, Syria and Lebanon, are essential for the return to calm and stability of our region,” Moussa said. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of splitting the Palestinian territories into isolated cantons to prevent the creation of a state. “Israel is continuing its aggression, its occupation, the construction of settlements and the Judaization of Jerusalem,” Abbas told summit's opening session. “The solution which Israel is designing consists of a group of cantons on a land separated by settlements, the separation wall and roadblocks,” he said. “This type of solution only reinforces the occupation and colonization and is aimed at preventing the creation of a independent Palestinian state,” Abbas added. __
