Mitchell after Meeting Assad: Syria Integral to Mideast Peace

 
Source: AFP, 13-6-2009

US envoy George Mitchell said on Saturday that Damascus had an integral role to play in Washington's efforts to secure Middle East peace, after what he described as "substantive discussions" with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Mitchell, the highest-ranking US official to visit Syria since President Barack Obama took office in January, met Assad on the latest leg of a regional tour aimed at pushing Obama's agenda of stepped-up peace efforts.

"The president and secretary of state have made clear that we seek peace between the Palestinians and "Israelis", between Syria and
"Israel", between Lebanon and "Israel" and full normalization between
"Israel" and its Arab neighbors," Mitchell said in a statement after the meeting.
"The peace we seek is truly comprehensive."

"We are well aware of the many difficulties that lie ahead. Yet we share an obligation to create conditions for negotiations to begin promptly and end successfully," Mitchell said.
"It is in the interests of all who seek peace -- Americans, Europeans, Arabs, "Israeli"s and others -- to support this effort through tangible steps."

"Syria has an integral role to play in reaching comprehensive peace," Mitchell said.
"We seek to build on this effort to establish a relationship based on mutual respect and mutual interest. The United States looks forward to this continued dialogue."

Syria on Tuesday expressed readiness to resume preliminary contacts with "Israel" through Turkish go-betweens on relaunching peace talks that have faltered in the past over the fate of the occupied Golan Heights.

Last year, Turkey brokered four rounds of indirect contacts but Syria suspended them in December when "Israel" launched its devastating war on Gaza.

The new "Israeli" government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out meeting Syria's central demand for peace - the return of the Golan plateau that "Israel" seized in war in 1967. The "Israeli" cabinet's decision drew an angry reaction from Assad, who described "Israel" as "the major obstacle to peace."

Mitchell, on his first visit to Damascus, is accompanied by Jeffrey Feltman, the acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. Feltman has already visited Damascus twice since January.

The two arrived on Friday from Beirut, where Mitchell pledged the United States would not sacrifice Lebanon as it seeks to reach a peace deal.

Mitchell has already visited "Israel", the West Bank, Egypt and Jordan.
In Cairo on Thursday, he urged Arab states to take "meaningful steps and important actions" to make peace with "Israel" -- which has only signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan.