Syrian FM: Israel has to leave the Golan

In a speech he delivered on Wednesday before the ministerial meeting of the coordination office of the Non-Aligned Movement, currently being held in Cartagena, Colombia, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa said the Israeli government has put the Middle East peace process in a crisis situation.

Al-Sharaa added that Syria will not give up an inch of its territory and will keep on committing itself to resuming negotiations from the point at which they broke off.

Al-Sharaa added that Arabs' strategic option to achieve just and comprehensive peace requires Israel's complete withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights to the June 4, 1967 borderline and from southern Lebanon and its Bekaa to the internationally recognized borders, as well as guaranteeing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to the establishment of their own independent state.

He added that it has become crystal clear that there is a drastic need for a new world order based on justice following the gradual fading of expectations raised following the end of the cold war.

"Our movement should shoulder a great responsibility to work for building such an order away from hegemony and foreign intervention in countries' internal affairs," al-Sharaa said, adding, "This matter can only be attainable through maintaining solidarity among our countries and adherence the Non-Aligned Movement's principles."