SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt, 25 December 2003— Syria’s and Egypt’s presidents called yesterday for Israel to forsake nuclear weapons, saying the Middle East should be a zone free of weapons of mass destruction.

They issued a statement after a brief summit here that followed Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s call for other nations to abandon weapons of mass destruction, saying it would increase pressure on Israel to do likewise.

Qaddafi’s remark was seen as aimed at Syria, which the United States has accused of seeking to acquire biological and chemical weapons. Syria denies the charge.

Neither Syrian President Bashar Assad nor Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak spoke to reporters after their talks. But Egypt’s top presidential adviser Osama El-Baz indicated that Syria would not be moved by Qaddafi’s words.

“Syria is not in a position of deadlock and it takes positions appropriate to its interests,” El-Baz told reporters. “Israel should not expect to be the last country (in the Middle East) to be free of weapons of mass destruction.”

Israel has never denied nor confirmed having nuclear bombs.

In a statement at the end of the summit, Assad and Mubarak stressed “current developments in the Middle East demonstrate the need to declare the Middle East a zone free of all weapons of mass destruction — including all states and Israel.”

The presidents also endorsed the revival of peace talks with Israel “on all tracks” — meaning Syrian-Israeli and Lebanese-Israeli talks as well as those between the Palestinians and the Jewish state.

El-Baz said: “Syria only wants to resume the talks based on the terms of reference and the progress already achieved.”

He was referring to the UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, which endorse the principle of land of peace, and the point at which Syrian-Israeli talks broke off in early 2000. Then Israel offered to return nearly all of the Golan Heights which it captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

The current Israeli government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has repeatedly rejected this demand, saying talks should resume “without preconditions.”

Assad and Mubarak met for more than two hours, beginning with a one-on-one meeting. They then had lunch with their wives.

Assad was accompanied to Sharm El-Sheik by his foreign minister, Farouk Al-Sharaa. But Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher did not attend, with officials saying he was resting from the effects of being jostled by Islamic extremists in Jerusalem on Monday.

Qaddafi made his call in an interview with CNN on Monday. He said that if other nations were to follow the example of Libya, which announced its abandonment of weapons of mass destruction last week: “This would tighten the noose around the Israelis so that they would expose their programs and their weapons of mass destruction.”

Qaddafi did not name any other nation in the interview.

Assad said he would like to renew peace talks with Israel in a Dec. 1 interview with the New York Times. It was his first overture to Israel since he took office in July 2000. But he said the talks should resume from the point where they left off earlier that year.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said last week the Syrian offer should be taken seriously. But, he said, “Syria must come to the negotiating table without preconditions and with no active involvement in terrorism.”