DAMASCUS, 11 July 2003 — Syria and Lebanon do not need a “road map” to reach a peace agreement with Israel, state-run Damascus Radio said yesterday.
“The Syrian and Lebanese tracks (of Middle East negotiations) do not need a ‘road map’ as that would signify that a new start was necessary ... when in fact the negotiations on these two areas have already made progress,” it said.
According to the radio station: “Israel hopes to return to the starting point, ignoring the 80 percent progress achieved on the Syrian section in nine years of negotiations.”
The Arab-Israeli peace process was launched at the Madrid conference in 1991 but talks between Syria and Israel have been frozen since January 2000. The main stumbling-block is Syria’s Golan Heights, seized by Israel in 1967.
Israel’s road to peace with Syria and Lebanon is clear, the radio added. “It must apply the UN Security Council resolutions”, stipulating its withdrawal from Arab territory occupied in 1967.
On Tuesday, Syrian President Bashar Assad said: “Syria has not requested that any party be included in the ‘road map’ because the Syrian track is based on (UN) Security Council resolutions and on the principle of land-for-peace.”
For his part, UN Middle East coordinator Terje Roed-Larson said the “quartet” that drafted the road map — the United Nations, United States, Russia and European Union — would back efforts to revive talks.
“The UN and the quartet continue to make efforts to achieve peace on all tracks of negotiation,” Roed-Larson said. Last month, Syria strongly criticized the road map peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians, warning that it had “marginalized the Syrian and Lebanese questions”.
