President Bashar al Assad and his Greek counterpart, Constantinos Stephanopoulos, met Saturday in Damascus. In a joint press conference, the Syrian leader noted that their talks touched upon the issue of terrorism where ''there was full consensus regarding all the points related to this issue especially the necessity as to define terrorism and outline its concept through a UN-sponsored conference."
"For my part, I underlined the necessity to distinguish between resistance and terrorism,'' al Assad said.
Regarding the peace talks with Israel, the Syrian president declared “As a result of the existence in Israel of governments which are hostile to the concept of peace, and with abandoning by the sponsors of the peace process of their duties towards it, this process has reached a stalemate. We have stated and repeat that we want peace, and that we put no conditions on achieving it other than abiding by United Nations resolutions and the principle of land for peace. At the same time, we shall not give up an inch of our territory or any of our rights, Syrian and Arab.”
“Just and comprehensive peace is attainable through the implementation of United Nations resolutions which call for Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories to the line of 4th June, 1967, and recognition of the right of the Arab people of Palestine to their independent state with Jerusalem its capital, and repatriation of Palestinian refugees.”
Shara
Syria's Foreign Minister Farouk Shara has rejected Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer's call for the resumption of talks between Israel and Syria without preconditions. Shara called Ben-Eliezer's proposal as "a manipulation designed to apply pressure on the Palestinians."
During a lecture on Thursday to a writers’ association in Damascus, Shara stated that in spite of the Israeli Defense Minister’s reference to no preconditions, Israel has actually predicated the renewal of talks on six conditions. Syria, he conveyed, “will not agree” to any one of them.
Shara restated Damascus’ demand that Israel withdraw from the Golan Heights, and also from Palestinian territories. Syria “will not agree to anything other than a just, comprehensive peace, with Israel withdrawing from territories it conquered in 1967, including the Golan Heights, Jerusalem and the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and remaining sites in Southern Lebanon, including the Shaba farms. Without this [Israeli withdrawal] negotiations will not be resumed.”
In a related development, Israeli Prime Minister Sharon is scheduled to meet U.S. President George W. Bush this Thursday in Washington. According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, he is expected to ask Bush to increase pressure on Damascus to end its support for Hizbullah and Palestinian opposition groups.
In addition, he will reiterate Israel’s six conditions, which it believes, must serve as a basis for any dialogue between Washington and Damascus. These six terms include the deportation from Damascus of commanders of 11 Palestinian organizations; the ending of support for Hizbullah; the expulsion of Iranian revolutionary guards from Lebanon; the closure of training camps in Lebanon's Bekaa; the implementation of UN Resolution 425; and the revealing of information regarding captured Israelis. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
