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Mideast Conference “Vague,” says Syria’s State-Run Newspaper | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Damascus (dpa) – Syria’s state-run Tishrin newspaper on Wednesday said the US-proposed Middle East peace conference was “vague” and expressed doubt about the gathering would focus on anything other than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that key Arab nations, including Syria, would be invited to the conference to provide the foundation for peace talks to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The conference is expected to be held in November.

“After seven years, the US administration has decided to use the word of peace and to direct invitations for a vague meeting,” Tishrin said in an editorial.

The newspaper said the peace that was hoped for in the Middle East was not only an agreement and reconciliation “between some of the Palestinian people and Israel.”

“Anyone who thinks that he can achieve peace by talking about two ‘states side by side’ or through unilateral deals between some Arabs and Israel is mistaken,” it added.

The newspaper said the Golan Heights should return to Syria and other peace elements should also be ensured or the region would “remain on the verge of an explosion.”

Negotiations between Syria and Israel, which occupied the strategic plateau in the 1967 war, broke down about seven years ago.