'Tel Aviv is stalling peace'

“Peace for Israel is a tactical act and not a strategic choice,” Assad said in an address to a meeting of Arab lawmakers in Damascus, AFP reported yesterday.

“Israel must provide proof of its desire for peace because it is the Israelis who are occupying our land and aggressive against our people,” he said.

Syria and Israel recently held four rounds of indirect talks, mediated by Turkey. But the talks made no significant headway, and Syria said a fifth round was postponed at Israel’s request.

Direct negotiations were frozen eight years ago after Israel baulked at Syrian demands for the return of the whole of the occupied Golan Heights, right down to the Sea of Galilee, its main water source.

Israel seized the Golan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move never recognized by the international community.
“Until now, Israel has been using the peace slogan for internal political purposes and world opinion believes these Israeli manoeuvres,” Assad said, calling on Israel to withdraw to the pre-1967 war borders.

“Syria decided to resume the peace process ... because we are committed to achieving a fair and comprehensive peace," he said, but added, “Our rights cannot be the subject of compromise.”

Assad has earlier said the negotiations need “international patronage” chiefly from the United States, despite the chilly state of diplomatic relations between Damascus and Washington.

Assad also criticized a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that would keep American troops in Iraq for three more years. The criticism was Bashar Assad's first public disapproval of the proposed U.S.-Iraq pact. He said U.S. troops contribute to regional instability and should withdraw from Iraq as soon as possible. He pointed to a recent American raid inside Syria near its border with Iraq as evidence that the U.S. will use Iraq as a base to attack its neighbors.

Last month, Syrian authorities said American troops attacked a village near the border with Iraq, killing eight civilians.