Source: Arab News
Date: 2009-04-27
Syrian President Bashar Assad insisted on the return of the Golan Heights but said he could not foresee peace talks with Israel anytime soon, in an interview with an Austrian daily published yesterday.
“What counts in the end, is that there is occupied territory that must be returned to Syria, and then we can talk about peace,” Assad told the newspaper Die Presse, ahead of a visit to Austria yesterday. “We do not make a peaceful solution dependent on the Israeli government. Governments in Israel come and go, whereas peace is a fixed goal that one must work toward consistently, even when there is no partner,” he said.
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman yesterday toned down his previous statements regarding peace prospects with Syria, telling Israel Radio he would be willing to immediately hold peace talks with Syria, but only without preconditions.
Over the weekend, Lieberman was quoted in the Austrian daily Kleine Zeitung saying Syria is not a partner for peace as it “hosts the headquarters of terror organizations” and “supports Iran’s nuclear program.” The Foreign Minister also recently told Israeli daily Jerusalem Post that Israel doesn’t “see any good will from the Syrian side, only the threats.”
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