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Palestinians, Syria Agree on Basis of Future Coordination
Syria and the Palestinians have worked out the basis and framework of future coordination for the peace talks with Israel on the Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese tracks, Palestinian officials said on Friday.
The consensus was reached during a visit to Damascus by Farouk al Kadoumy, director of the Political Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization ( PLO ), who held talks with Syrian officials on bilateral relations and the Middle East peace process, the officials said.
Both sides reached consensus
- that they would coordinate stances on peace talks with Israel;
- the Mideast peace process should be based on United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 and the land-for-peace principle;
- an independent Palestinian state should be established with Jerusalem as its capital;
- all Arab territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War should be returned;
- all Palestinian refugees have the right to return to their homes;
- they continue supporting the Palestinian Intifada (uprising) against Israeli aggressions;
- a dialog would be held with all Palestinian parties opposed to the peace process to realize Palestinian national unity.
The Palestinian officials said that the linkage between Palestinian and Syrian tracks "does not mean holding negotiations at the same time, but signing final comprehensive peace agreements at the same time."
They disclosed that Ahmed Qurei, speaker of the Palestine Council, is to lead a delegation to Damascus in the coming days to prepare for a working paper on coordination between the Palestinians and Syria.
The paper will be signed during a proposed visit to Syria by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, which may take place in the mid- April, they added.
Kadoumy also discussed with Syrian officials Arafat's planned visit and ways of forming a mechanism for future coordination between the two sides.
The Palestinian-Syrian relations soured after the Palestinians signed the Oslo peace accord in 1993 with Israel. A thaw in the relations has been set in after Arafat traveled to Damascus last year to attend the funeral of late President Hafez al-Assad.
Arafat further met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, son of the late president, on the sidelines of the Arab summit held in Jordan's capital of Amman on March 27-28.
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