scoone
01-14-2004, 03:25 PM
Syria Says No Hope for Peace with Sharon's Israel
Wed January 14, 2004 12:37 PM ET
DAMASCUS (*******) - Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Otari said Wednesday he saw no hope for peace with Israel under the right-wing government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Earlier this week, Otari dismissed an invitation by Israeli President Moshe Katsav to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to visit Jerusalem as a "propaganda invitation" and a "media maneuver."
"There is no hope under this Zionist administration for achieving just and comprehensive peace," Otari told reporters in Damascus after a meeting with Lebanese officials to promote economic cooperation.
In a speech earlier Wednesday, Otari reiterated Damascus's position that Syria wants peace with the Jewish state to be based on U.N. resolutions that guarantee Israeli withdrawal from all lands occupied since the 1967 Middle East war and the outcome of previous peace talks.
Israel has said it will not accept any conditions for revival of the U.S.-sponsored talks that collapsed in 2000 over the future of the strategic Golan Heights, seized by the Jewish State in 1967.
Wed January 14, 2004 12:37 PM ET
DAMASCUS (*******) - Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Otari said Wednesday he saw no hope for peace with Israel under the right-wing government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Earlier this week, Otari dismissed an invitation by Israeli President Moshe Katsav to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to visit Jerusalem as a "propaganda invitation" and a "media maneuver."
"There is no hope under this Zionist administration for achieving just and comprehensive peace," Otari told reporters in Damascus after a meeting with Lebanese officials to promote economic cooperation.
In a speech earlier Wednesday, Otari reiterated Damascus's position that Syria wants peace with the Jewish state to be based on U.N. resolutions that guarantee Israeli withdrawal from all lands occupied since the 1967 Middle East war and the outcome of previous peace talks.
Israel has said it will not accept any conditions for revival of the U.S.-sponsored talks that collapsed in 2000 over the future of the strategic Golan Heights, seized by the Jewish State in 1967.