Mubarak: al-Assad is ready to negotiate Israel without conditions
Egypt-Syria, Politics, 1/22/2004

The Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak said on Tuesday during his meeting with Egyptian intellectuals that his Syrian counterpart President Bashar al-Assad confirmed to him that he is ready to negotiate with Israel without prior conditions.

More than one journalist who attended the meeting said that President Mubarak said that "al-Assad actually confirmed that his position is to resume the negotiations from where it had stopped, but if this is impossible, he accepts to resume these negotiations without prior conditions." The Syrians, however, insist to resume the negotiations from where it had ended in 2000 when the Israeli labor prime minister Ehud Barak was in power, while the Israelis do not recognize what was reached during that talks and persist to start from the " Zero point."

Sharon, on Monday ruled out making negotiations with Syria, considering that it will be "by the ultimate end conducive for returning back the Syrian Golan heights occupied by Israel since 1967 to Damascus.

Syria had denied making secret contacts with Israel, considering that its position from the peace process does not need secret contacts or hidden mediations. Syria also played down an invitation extended by the Israeli President Moshe Katsaf to Bashar al-Assad last week to visit Israel, and described it as a maneuver to win time and avoid the peace process.

Previous Stories:
  Al-Shara, Maher telephone call on ME developments   (1/21/2004)
  Al-Sharif reiterates support for Syria to restore back legitimate rights   (1/20/2004)
  Renewed Egyptian underlining of Syria 's cling to ME peace   (1/12/2004)

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