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Syria Still Undecided on Annapolis Summit | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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London, Asharq Al-Awsat- Syria has yet to decide on weather it will attend Tuesday’s U.S.-hosted conference about Palestinian statehood.

A high-ranking Syrian official has reiterated that Damascus’s attendance of the Annapolis peace conference was still conditional upon a clear agenda it should receive. This should include a clear reference to the occupied Syrian Golan, having received US promises to this effect, a condition Syria insists on before it would attend the conference.

On the other hand, he stressed that Syria had not refused to attend the conference yet in response to the invitation it had received since” the Syrian diplomatic dynamics are working hard” to include the Golan as an independent and special article on the conference agenda.

Syrian Information Minister Muhsin Bilal told Asharq Al-Awsat on the phone from London that “we are still waiting for the agenda. We are not in a rush. We would not attend without a clear article about the Golan on the agenda.” He added: “The Americans must propose a legal and clear agenda to the conference and announce it to the world.”

Asked whether Damascus was concerned the Arabs would agree to attend the Annapolis meeting without an announced agenda, he said: “Syria is not afraid of anything. The Syrian request is part of Arab consensus.” He added: “Our position is clear. To put it in accurate terms: If an independent article is included in the agenda under the heading “occupied Syrian Golan”, we will be prepared to participate. We will not attend a conference that does not include an important sovereign Syrian issue.”