DAMASCUS, 17 August 2006 — Syria warned Israel yesterday that the occupation of the Golan Heights “cannot last forever” and said Syrians would emulate Hezbollah to recover their land.

“We say to the forces occupying our land that our people warn you that they will not allow our land to be occupied forever,” the government’s daily Ath-Thawra said.

“You must understand that our people will fight the way the Lebanese resistance (Hezbollah) fought you,” it added.

“Our people will fight you... on every inch of the Golan,” it said.

However, the newspaper urged decision-makers in Israel “to open up to new perspectives,” noting that some in the Jewish state were in favor of making peace with Syria.

“The leaders of this expansionist entity have a choice: either they heed the voice of reason that prohibits them from violating other people’s rights or they will face action similar to that carried out by the Lebanese resistance.” Syria has repeatedly demanded the return of the Golan Heights which Israel conquered in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed in 1981.

Peace negotiations between the two neighbors broke off in January 2000 amid disagreement over the strategic heights, which overlooks Israel’s northern Galilee region and command approaches to the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Syrian President Bashar Assad gave a hard-hitting speech to the Syrian Parliament on Tuesday describing Israel as the “enemy” and stressing that he did not expect peace any time soon with his archrival.

“Peace would involve Israel returning occupied lands to their owners and restoring their rights,” Bashar said. “Israel is an enemy founded on the basis of aggression and hegemony.”

Yesterday Israel accused Syria of choosing what it called the “camp of extremism” after Bashar hailed the victory of Hezbollah.

“With this speech, Syria has shown that its strategic choice consists in aligning itself with extremists,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.

He said Syria formed part of an “extremist axis” which included the two hard-line Palestinian movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and Iran.

“So long as Syria belongs to this axis, no reasonable person will be able to treat it as part of the peace camp,” Regev said.