Syria Calls Israel "Untrue" Partner
5048092Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad blasted Israel on Wednesday for being an untrue "partner" in the process of peacemaking in the Middle East, saying the Jewish state should relinquish the lands it occupied if it was seeking to strike a deal with Damascus.
"We discussed the peace process in the Middle East, and view points were identical on the establishment of just and comprehensive peace based on the resolutions of international legitimacy which underline the illegality of the continuation of the Israeli occupation of the Arab territories, on top of which is the occupied Syrian Golan," Assad told reporters after meeting with his Greek counterpart Karolos Papoulias.
"Achieving peace requires an Israeli partner and commitment to international law, United Nations resolutions and the land for peace principles. This Israeli partner does not currently exist," he said.
Papoulias agreed, telling reporters that "true peace in the region cannot be achieved unless all parties respecting and agreeing to Security Council resolutions and restoring the occupied Syrian Golan to Syria."
Syria held indirect talks with Israel last year mediated by Turkey. But the discussions were halted during the Israeli offensive on Gaza in December and January. Syria has since said it was ready to resume indirect talks with Israel's new hard-line government as long as they focus on a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Golan.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered in May to talk to Syria but indicated he would not make any commitments on returning the occupied Golan Heights to Damascus.
"We held positive and constructive talks reflecting the deep understanding that bring the two countries together on various regional and international issues, and we agreed on boosting consultation on various levels between the officials in both countries particularly in the light of the accelerating events in the region and in the world," Assad said of the talks.
"I made a review of Syria's vision of the developments of the situation in the region, and we stressed the necessity for the combination of international efforts to ease the suffering of the Palestinian people and to support the national reconciliation process in Iraq," he added.
Papoulias expressed his country's support for developing relations between the European Union and Syria and signing the Association Agreement "as soon as possible" based on the conviction that bilateral relations will "grow on the firm groundwork on which the bonds of friendship were established between the two peoples."
An official statement said the talks dealt also with the "necessity to push up the Arab–European relations, and with the necessity to boost rapprochement and dialogue between the countries of the region and Europe on all levels, and to build on the deep historical, cultural, and geographic ties that bring the two regions together for finding solutions to the problems they face and to achieve stability in the Middle East region reflecting on the security of the two regions and the world."
The statement made no mention of any plans by the U.S. President to return an ambassador to Syria, filling a post that has been vacant for four years.
But Syria's Ambassador to the United States Imad Mustapha said earlier in the day he had received information from U.S. non-officials that Mr. Obama will make the move, which would mark an acceleration of Washington's engagement with the Arab world.