James Baker views on current peace talks

Former US Secretary of State James Baker asserted that the Madrid terms of reference are still alive, regretting wasting too many peacemaking opportunities.

In an interview with MENA on Tuesday, Baker said much progress has been made since the signing of the Oslo Accords as Israel made peace with Jordan, and previously with Egypt, and it pulled out of Lebanon while negotiating with the Palestinians the thorniest issues such as Jerusalem and the refugees.

Baker, who is attending an economic conference in Cairo, organized by Al-Aharam daily, underlined that peace between Syria and Israel will also be realized.

However, he noted that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad needs time to prepare for launching negotiations with Israel.

"Without a Syrian-Israeli peace, a comprehensive deal in the Middle East will remain out of reach," said Baker.

"The Camp David summit failed to solve the Jerusalem and the refugees issues but it managed to keep negotiations going," said Baker.

Baker declined to comment on the Israelis' negotiating of the Jerusalem issue on basis of religious considerations not international laws.

He considered Barak's proposals on sharing sovereignty on Jerusalem as unprecedented.

"Middle East countries have to work hard to have stability prevail in order to be able to compete in world market," said Baker.

He pointed out that the Palestinians are capable of taking care of their own business and they would have their own state.

"The Middle East peace process is always a top of US administration agenda, whether Democratic or Republican," said Baker.

The US stance as demanding Jerusalem to remain unified and its future to be determined via negotiations is intact, he added.

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