Kahalani asks to meet with President al-Assad

Israeli Radio quoted Israeli Minister of the Interior Avigdor Kahalani as saying that "if President Hafez al-Assad understands the Hebrew, he has to ask me to meet with him, and I am ready to meet with him the second day."

During a tour he made in Forinch village in northern Israel, Kahalani added, "I would like to look into the eyes of President al-Assad to understand if he comprehend the fact of our existence and if he perceives the security problems we face, and then we will talk on means of achieving peace between the two peoples, and this process should be made slowly in order to be able to test the situations financially and to set up joint ventures with the Syrians. And thence peace will be there."

Kahalani added that the decision provides that the perpetuation of Israel's occupation of the Golan should not affect the peace process. He noted that this decision "aims at preserving lands under the Israeli laws and this situation is not only applied on the Golan, rather on Jerusalem."