Last update - 00:00 25/09/2007
Syrian newspaper: U.S. must alter policy for Mideast summit to succeed
By The Associated Press
The United States ought to revise its policy in the region if it wants the upcoming Mideast peace conference to succeed, a government newspaper said Tuesday, stopping short of saying Syria would not attend.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that key Arab nations, including Syria, would be invited to a Mideast peace conference expected to be held in the United States in November to provide the foundation for peace talks to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"What is the advantage of such a conference ... if those who have called for it are not contemplating to reconsider their negative policies in the region and define its supposed target beforehand?" said the Tishrin newspaper, which reflects Syrian government views. It was Syria's first official reaction to Rice's call for a conference.
Syria-Israel negotiations broke down seven years ago after Israel refused to give Damascus assurances that it would withdraw from the Golan Heights and turn over land extending to the Sea of Galilee. Israel, which occupied the strategic plateau in the 1967 Six Day War, insisted the issues of security arrangements and normalization be spelled out first.
Washington's aim in holding the conference, Tishrin speculated, was to have Syria and Israel normalize ties while retaining the status quo.
Tishrin said the Bush administration continued to view our pending issues illogically and illegally and through an Israeli perspective, referring to the Golan Heights.
Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal, in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. on Monday, called for a comprehensive peace in the region. He said his country would study the U.S. proposal before deciding on whether to attend.