Syria Accuses US of Favoring Israel

Published September 7th, 2000 - 03:00 GMT

Syria's official press Thursday accused the United States of displaying bias towards Israel, jeopardizing Middle East peace efforts.

"The frankly partial attitude of the United States in favor of Israel and their unbalanced Middle East policy damages American credibility", the government daily Tishrin said.

Claiming that Israel, backed by Washington, was pressing the Palestinians to yield on sovereignty over east Jerusalem, the paper said that it was unthinkable for any Palestinian leader to accept such a thing.

Tishrin asked if "Israel will remain the only country in the world that is above international law and the United Nations charter."

The ruling party paper Al-Baath also charged that "all the international efforts for peace in the Middle East have failed because of the biased stance of the United States, sponsors of the peace process."

The current UN millennium summit "is a chance to put things in their place," Al-Baath added.

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq Shara told the summit on Wednesday there was no hope for a lasting peace in the Middle East until Israel withdrew from the Syrian Golan Heights and east Jerusalem and abandoned its nuclear weapons program - DAMASCUS (AFP)