On negotiations between Syria and Israel

Member of the Israeli Knesset for the Labor Party Nawaf Masalha said that he had conveyed a message from Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak to Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in which the latter pledged to continue the policy pursued by Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.

In a statement to Sawt al-Arab radio aired on Tuesday, Masalha added that Barak pledged in the message to resume negotiations with Syria from the point where they were halted under the previous Labor government.

Masalha continued, "I believe President Hafez al-Assad when saying that there was an agreement with Rabin, even if such an agreement is oral, until the June 4, 1967 border point, as the first point," adding that the second point is the security aspect, over which there were disputes only on details like the monitoring point or the Israeli monitoring towers.

Masalha added that it is very "well-known" to Barak and the Israelis that the price is full withdrawal from the occupied Syrian territories and similar full withdrawal from south Lebanon.