Al-Shara confers with Bishara
Syria-Israel, Politics, 4/28/2000

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara on Thursday met with the Arab - Israeli writer and intellectual Azmi Bishara.

Talks during the meeting dealt with the development of conditions in the region, especially the possibility of Israel's unilateral withdrawal from south Lebanon and the deadlocked Middle East peace process.

Bishara stressed that Syria has chosen peace as a strategic option and that the Syrian stand has not changed since the Madrid conference.

In a press statement following his meeting with al-Shara, Bishara said on Thursday that it "will be surprising if it will change, because it is a rightful stand, because it pertains to the Syrian sovereignty where Syria used to be in 1967, a basic issue. And Israel has actually to choose whether it wants peace with Syria as a strategic option for it."

Concerning the question of waters Bishara said, "There are international agreements which organize the distribution of waters, and this is not a question of Israel's plundering of the waters, rather international agreements, in line of international norms and that the Syrian position is completely right in this regard."

Bishara added, "According to my own conviction and that of Foreign Minister al-Shara the whole ball is now in the Israeli court because Syria has repeatedly announced its desire in a just and comprehensive strategic peace in Syria and Lebanon and that now it is Israel's turn to decide if it has this very desire," adding that the conditions for establishing peace are well known. He said since the Madrid conference, there are maneuvers and changes in the Israeli position and that the Syrian stand is unswerving while the Israeli stand is continuously changing.

Bishara added that the question is now whether Barak is able to take the decision and to incline towards peace, especially as peace conditions have not changed.

Bishara was asked on what would give the guarantees concerning the waters and he said to this effect that, "There are international rules which organize this process." He stated that the Israelis speak about the agreement of 1923, but there is an agreement stemmed from that of 1923, which is the agreement of 1926. The 1926 agreement, he added, organizes the process of distributing the waters in the region. He added this very agreement states that there are international rules based on international law organizing the process of distributing waters between any two countries whose water springs are shared, asserting that Syria has the right to the water springs and that Syria is ready to give guarantees where these waters pour and the continuity of its flow, which is "a totally reasonable position."

Replying to a question on whether resumption of negotiations on the Syrian track was discussed, Bishara said the conditions for resuming negotiations are still the same and have not changed.

Previous Stories:
  Al-Shara confers with Bishara   (4/26/2000)
  Report: Steps of Syrian-Israeli negotiations   (12/17/1999)
  Azmi Bishara's visit to Damascus   (12/16/1999)

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