Azmi Bishara doubts Barak's intentions

Palestinian intellectual and Israeli Knesset member Azmi Bishara expressed doubts toward the seriousness of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's peace policy, especially toward a complete withdrawal from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

In remarks he made to the Lebanese daily Nida' al-Watan daily published in Beirut on Tuesday, Bishara said the military establishment in Israel is aware that it is difficult to separate between the Lebanese and Syrian tracks and that the inseparability of the two tracks is imperative.

The Israeli military establishment's stand on complete peace with Syria is still vague, he said.

He asserted that peace with Damascus cannot be achieved without a full withdrawal from the Golan. "I told Barak that to make peace with Syria means ending the Arab Israeli conflict," Bishara said.

Replying to another question, Bishara said the internal conditions in Israel regarding the peace process have witnessed new breakthroughs resulting from Netanyahu's fall and the emergence of a camp accusing Netanyahu of working to destroy the Middle East peace process.