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In Beirut, a pro-Lebanese protester watches Syrian President Bashar Assad on a big screen at Martyrs' Square (AP)
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| By Associated Press March 6, 2005 |
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| Popular guy (AP) |
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President Bashar Assad said Saturday that although Syria was ready to resume negotiations with Israel where they left off, there was no hope for peace talks for now because of Israel's refusal.
"The peace process will remain at a standstill for the foreseeable future," he said in a speech to parliament. "We confirmed that we are ready for negotiations without prior conditions and that we start negotiations where it ended in the 1990s."
But he said he was not surprised that Israel was placing conditions in order to avoid negotiating.
Syrian-Israeli negotiations for a peace treaty in return for Israel's handover of the Golan Heights it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war have been stalled since 2000.
In his speech, Assad warned the Lebanese to be alert of Israel's attempts to make peace once Syria was gone from Lebanon.
"I tell them (Lebanese) a new May 17 (agreement) is looming on the horizon. Get ready for a battle to scuttle it as you did two decades ago," he said, referring to a proposed May 17, 1983, peace deal between Lebanon and Israel that was thwarted, under Syrian pressure, by Syria's Lebanese allies.
Lebanon's outgoing Prime Minister Omar Karami, asked about Assad's warning told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. television, said there was Western pressure for peace with Israel.
"A month ago, the Israeli foreign minister said that the Syrian army will withdraw and Lebanon will be the third (Arab) country to sign peace with Israel," he said.
Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab countries that have signed peace treaties with Israel.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom dismissed Assad's speech and called on Syria to completely withdraw it troops from Lebanon, saying a full withdrawal could lead to peace between Israel and Lebanon.
"Israel demands a full implementation of U.N. Resolution 1559 , meaning a complete withdrawal of all Syrian troops from Lebanon," Shalom said, speaking at a joint news conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani al-Mulqi in Jerusalem.
A full Syrian withdrawal "will allow free and democratic elections, letting the Lebanese elect their own leaders creating an independent country, not vassal state, and maybe in the near future leading ... to a greater understanding and maybe even peace with Israel."
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