US, Russia, Britain consult on Middle East peace
The US, Russia and Britain have asserted the need to exert efforts to achieve just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Arab media and political sources continued their assertion of the principles of peace, stressing that a complete Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights is the core of the Middle East peace process.
In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov received two telephone calls from his US counterpart, Madeleine Albright, and his British counterpart, Robin Cook, on the Middle East peace process.
In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Ivanov and Albright stressed that close cooperation between Russia and the US, the Middle East peace cosponsors, is a very important element to achieving progress in the peace process.
Cook and Ivanov also expressed their backing for a peace settlement in the Middle East.
In Beirut, Lebanese Minister of Administrative Reforms Hassan al-Shalq said that the Lebanese negotiation track with Israel will not start as long as the Syrian-Israeli negotiations have not realized any progress, stressing unity between the Syrian and Lebanese tracks.
Shalq called on Israel to simultaneously withdraw from the Golan and south Lebanon and accused the Israeli side of deception and retreat from carrying out promises taken by former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
In Amman, Jordanian Prime Minister Abdul Raouf al-Rawabdeh stressed his country's backing for the peace process and consolidation of peace and stability in the region.
During his meeting on Wednesday in Amman with the Australian minister of migration, al-Rawabdeh said that Jordan seeks, relentlessly, to establish just and comprehensive peace in the region to use all potentials to attain developments and prosperity for the welfare of the peoples of the region.
For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said a substantial agreement can be reached between Syria and Israel within two months, but he did not give in his statement any clear commitment to reaching the required agreement.
Replying to a question on reports which said that US President Bill Clinton is seeking to reach by March a substantial agreement that paves the way for peace between Syria and Israel, Barak commented, "I do not think that for such an agreement to be reached within two months is exaggerated." Barak added, "Doubtless, Syrian-Israeli peace talks are approaching a decisive phase in which we have to ask ourselves what are the calculated risks that should be taken to make peace with Syria."
