Al-Sharaa on Tabaraya lake and Israel's pledge on Golan
Syria-Israel, Politics, 11/5/1999

The Jordanian weekly al-Sabeel said that Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa said that Syria will ask for a part of Tabaraya lake waters to its territories according to international principles.

These comments were said in a recent interview published in the US by Newsweek magazine before al-Sharaa was admitted to hospital, adding that the comments by the foreign minister in the interview went unpublished with the rest of the interview the Jordanian paper said.

Al-Sharaa also added, according to the Jordanian paper, that there is a common indicator between Rabin, Perez and Netanyahu, in that the three men pledged to withdraw to the June 4, 1967 border line in the Golan.

The Jordanian paper continued that al-Sharaa elaborated that Rabin, in a written message conveyed to President al-Assad by then-US Secretary of State Warren Christopher and that Peres approved this pledge when he started to negotiate with the Syrians through Uri Safir.

The paper continued that al-Sharaa stressed during his interview with the US magazine that Netanyahu sent a commitment on withdrawal from the Golan through the US businessman Ron Lauder and that al-Sharaa said, "Netanyahu asked to keep his pledge as a secret until the peace settlement is completed with Syria and that he (Netanyahu) cannot declare in open his pledge to withdraw to June, 4, 1967."

Also in the interview al-Sharaa denied Netanyahu's statement in which he said that Netanyahu "sent through the Americans a message to the Syrian leadership" in which he stressed that Rabin's pledge to withdraw from the Golan was "verbal" and therefore is considered "invalid."

Meantime, US State Department spokesman James Rubin remarked on the issue of the Israeli commitment by Rabin to withdraw from Golan saying "Nothing is agreed till everything is agreed." Pressed further on this issue, Rubin said "I am purposely being dodgy" because it is a very sensitive period in the talks.

Previous Stories:
  Washington: Israel did not vow a complete withdrawal from the Golan   (11/4/1999)
  Syrian citizens in the Golan against the Israeli violations   (10/28/1999)
  Damascus: Israel's set conditions for withdrawal from South Lebanon, totally ends the Syrian peace file   (10/26/1999)

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