Syrian president says Israel must prove it wants peace by withdrawing from all occupied Arab land.
By BRENDA GAZZAR, APassad in parliament 248.88(photo credit: AP)
Syrian President Bashar Assad accused Israel on Sunday of not being genuine in its professed desire for peace with its Arab neighbors and criticized a proposed US-Iraqi security agreement that would keep American troops in Iraq for three more years.
In a speech to Arab parliamentarians in Damascus, Assad said Israel must prove it desires peace by offering to withdraw from all territories captured during the Six Day War.
"Until this moment, we still see that the peace slogan is used as part of an internal political game in Israel and as a major factor in external political maneuvers," the Syrian president said.
"The clear-cut reality is that peace has not been the Israelis' main objective, they are primarily concerned with security in the narrow sense, which can only be achieved in their view at the expense of the Arabs' security and of our rights... And it is no longer acceptable or logical for us to be asked to continue to offer proof and evidence of our desire for peace," he said.
Israelis should offer evidence "that they are ready for peace and persuade us, the Arabs, of that... They are the ones who occupy our lands and commit aggressions against our people and displace millions of our people, and not the reverse," Assad said.
Israel did not have immediate comment on the speech.
Syria and Israel recently held four rounds of indirect talks, mediated by Turkey. But the talks made no significant headway, and Syria said a fifth round was postponed at Israel's request.
US-brokered direct Syria-Israel peace talks broke down in 2000.
Syria insists on the complete return of the Golan Heights. Jerusalem wants to keep a strip of land around the eastern edge of the Sea of Galilee that is within Israel's internationally recognized borders.
On Sunday, Assad stressed that Syria would make no concessions in any peace agreement with Israel.
"They [Israelis] are carrying out these acts and are demanding protection and guarantees... with the aim of acquiring more concessions. I confirm today that they will not get any of these [concessions] from Syria," he said.
Assad said Syria was interested in establishing a just and comprehensive peace based on a return to the pre-1967 borders.
Israel's dealings with Arabs, particularly with the Palestinians, as well as "Israel's lack of response so far to the requirements of peace on the Syrian track shows that peace for Israel is only a tactic and not a strategic choice," the Syrian president said.
In the same speech, Assad also offered his first public criticism of the proposed US-Iraq pact. American troops contributed to regional instability and should withdraw from Iraq as soon as possible, he said.
He pointed to a recent American raid inside Syria near its border with Iraq as evidence that the US would use Iraq as a base to attack its neighbors.
"The latest American aggression on Syrian territory shows that the presence of American occupation forces constitutes a source of continuous threat to the security of Iraq's neighboring states and a factor of instability for the region," he told the Arab parliamentarians meeting in Damascus.
US officials have said last month's raid targeted a top al-Qaida in Iraq figure. Syria has asked for proof and said eight civilians were killed in the attack.
Baghdad has asked the US for an explicit ban in the proposed security pact on the use of Iraqi soil for attacks against the country's neighbors. The US has replied to the request, but the details are not known.
Assad called on other Arab countries to reject the pact.
"The Arab position has to be clear and unified, that is to stress the necessity of ending the occupation and confronting any attempt to impose any agreement that infringes on the sovereignty of Iraq and its security and harms overall Arab national security," he said.
Iran, a key ally of Syria, has also criticized the proposed agreement, which would keep US troops in Iraq until the end of 2011.
The Iraqi parliament must approve the agreement by year's end, when a UN mandate expires. Failure to do so or to get the UN Security Council to issue a new mandate would force the US to suspend operations in the country.
The Bush administration has clashed repeatedly with Syria since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Syria opposed the war, and Washington has accused Damascus of not doing enough to stop Islamist gunmen from crossing its border into Iraq.
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