UAE | Government

Syria waiting for Israeli response to peace push

The Syrian president tells Gulf News that the country is waiting for Israel's response to its peace vision and says no concessions will be offered.

  • By Abdul Hamid Ahmad, Editor-in-Chief
  • Published: 11:42 June 2, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Shaikh Khalifa recieves Syrian President Bashar Al Assad in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
  • Image Credit: WAM
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Abu Dhabi: Syria has presented to Israel its vision of peace between the two countries and is waiting for the Israeli response, President Bashar Assad said here on Monday.

"The talks with Israel continue through the Turkish mediator and we have presented our vision for peace, based on the principles of land for peace and now we are waiting for the Israelis to respond," the Syrian president told Gulf News. "We will not offer any concessions. The conditions for peace are clear."

He was speaking in a meeting with the editors-in-chief of UAE newspapers in the second day of his visit to the UAE. On the first day of his visit, Al Assad held official talks with the President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan on ways to improve bilateral and Arab relations.

Al Assad said that Syria was very keen to keep the momentum of the Doha agreement, which ended the Lebanese crisis and said his country was ready to do whatever is possible to help.

"We have always said that relations between Syria and Lebanon should improve and we are ready to exchange ambassadors and receive the Lebanese prime minister, even if it is Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, when a national unity government is formed. Also, we have no problem with demarcating the two countries' border, except for [Occupied] Shabaa Farms. We have agreed to do that in 2005."

He said Syria has no intention of developing nuclear weapons and denied the US report that claimed Damascus was building nuclear facilities on the site the Israelis attacked last year.

"We are interested in nuclear energy for peaceful purposes just like any other country. But when we want to do it, we will do it through the Arab league and with the help of other Arab countries who might have the expertise," he said.

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