Tuesday, July 7, 2009

'We want the Golan on a gold platter'
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST Jul. 7, 2009
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443744038&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

A day after President Shimon Peres said Syria could not expect to receive
the Golan Heights from Israel on a silver platter, Syrian Foreign Minister
Walid Moallem said the country actually wanted the territory back on a "gold
platter."

"Let's face it - it's our land and our right to have it back is the most
normal thing in the world," he added after a meeting Tuesday with German
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Syrian President Bashar Assad,
according to AFP

On Monday, Peres had asked Steinmeier to made it clear that Assad must
understand he could not expect to receive the Golan on a silver platter
while he continued to strengthen Hizbullah and maintain contact with Iran.

At Tuesday's joint press conference, Steinmeier called on Syria to "do its
part" in promoting the success of the Middle East peace process, noting the
need to restrict Hizbullah and Hamas, which had shown "no interest in the
success of the peace talks."

"The peace process can only proceed when destructive elements in the region
are reined in," the German foreign minister said.

Moallem rejected the notion of breaking ties with the terror groups.

"As for the issue of our relations with Hizbullah or Iran, that's a
precondition," he said, dismissing the Israeli demands for a clean break as
part of a normalization of ties under any peace deal with the Jewish state.

"You have to join negotiations to know what will happen afterward," he
added, cautiously putting the ball in Israel's court. "We think a resumption
of indirect contacts with Israel through Turkish go-betweens is the best way
of getting to direct negotiations, but first and foremost, we have to be
confident that there is a political will in Israel to achieve peace."