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Syria Ready to Resume Peace Talks with Israel: FM
Syria is ready to resume peace talks with Israel at any time on condition that such talks be based on the pre-1967 border lines, Syrian Foreign Minister Faruk Shareh said Friday at a news conference.
"Dr. Bashar al-Assad assured (U.N. Secretary-General Kofi) Annan on Thursday of Syria's readiness to resume the talks with Israel at any time," Shareh told reporters at the Damascus International Airport while seeing off Annan, who wound up his multi-leg Middle East tour.
"It is clear that the border lines of June 4, 1967 are the basic issue that allows for no bargaining," Shareh quoted Bashar as saying.
Annan, who arrived here Thursday afternoon on a one-day visit to Syria, met with Syria's new ruler Bashar al-Assad on Thursday. During the meeting, Bashar pledged to continue cooperation with the United Nations, with a view to establishing a fair and comprehensive peace in the region.
Bashar also reaffirmed Syria's support to Lebanon's just demands for full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territories. Syria is the major power broker in Lebanon.
Shareh recalled his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Cairo on June 7, during which Albright asserted the necessity of resuming the stalled Syrian-Israeli talks.
"She asked me clearly to convey to President Hafez al-Assad, who passed away on June 10, that it was necessary to put the Geneva summit between Assad and U.S. President Bill Clinton behind us," he added.
"We want a new start to help sustain the peace process between Syria and Israel," Shareh quoted Albright as saying.
The Clinton-Assad Geneva summit, held on March 26, failed to make any breakthrough in restarting the Syrian-Israeli talks, which broke off early January after two rounds of talks in the U.S..
"We hope for the resumption of the peace talks on the basis of the Madrid peace conference and the land-for-peace principle," he added.
Syria and Israel resumed their peace talks last December in Washington after a nearly four-year hiatus. However, the talks have been suspended since early January due to differences over the return of Golan Heights, a strategic plateau Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.
Syria wants to regain the Golan Heights in full, but Israel insists on retaining the northeastern part of Tiberias Lake connected with the plateau.
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