Syria says Golan Heights the key to peace with Israel
DAMASCUS (AFP) — Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Thursday that peace with Israel would follow the return to Syria of the strategic Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
"We are ready to establish a just and comprehensive peace in the region based on the application of UN security council resolutions," Muallem told a news conference with his visiting Austrian counterpart Ursula Plassnik.
He said both sides must strive for peace and that Israel must be willing to return the key Golan plateau.
"Syria will examine the issue of security on the two sides of the (Syrian-Israeli) border and the normalisation" of relations between the two countries, he said.
Plassnik, who also met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, told reporters she had also raised the issue of human rights in Syria with him.
"I raised the issue of human rights in general and the European Union expectation for Syria to respect international human rights commitment, with the president and with the vice-president," she said.
"This is one of the points where we have different opinions and this is a matter not only for me as an Austrian foreign minister but this is a clear point of view taken by the European Union as such.
"But we stand ready to continue discussions and to also offer support to develop human rights understanding and on the international commitment of Syria."
Israel, technically at war with Syria since 1948, captured the Golan in the war of 1967 and unilaterally annexed the territory in 1981.
Syrian and Israeli leaders both said last year they were open to restarting peace talks, which broke down in 2000 because of disagreements over the Golan.
