Peres calls for achieving peace with Syria
Israel, Politics, 5/26/1999

Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres has asserted that the forthcoming Israeli government of Ehud Barak will give top interest to achieving a comprehensive settlement on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks.

He expected that negotiations with Syria will start very soon from the point at which they broke off, when he was prime minister for the Labor Party government in 1996.

In a statement to the Kuwaiti daily al-Rai al-Am issued on Tuesday, Peres stressed that the results of the recent Knesset elections were a "clear referendum" in which the Israelis expressed their unwillingness "to keep the Golan Syrian Heights."

He added that the extremist parties which used to cling to the occupation of the Golan had owned the majority of its seats in the Knesset, adding that the Third Road Party led by Avigdor Kahalani also failed and then he was removed from the Knesset because he was hoisting the "banner of occupying the Golan."

Concerning the Israeli election, Peres said the most important result of these elections is "getting rid of Netanyahu," stressing that it is impossible to reach peace in the region in the presence of a person like Netanyahu.

Peres voiced support for the establishment of a Palestinian state. He said, "I want to the see the Palestinian state as democratic, in which there is no room for Islamic extremism," expressing his trust in the competence and talent of the Palestinian people to establish a modern state.

He also voiced support for freezing settlements, adding that he prefers to postpone discussions on the question of Jerusalem.

Previous Stories:
  Peres wants to visit Morocco   (5/25/1999)
  Hamas: Barak will not differ from Netanyahu   (5/18/1999)
  Damascus links peace negotiations to withdrawal from the Golan   (5/18/1999)
  Likud opposes withdrawal from the Golan   (4/27/1999)

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