Syrian President Assad says no indication of achieving peace with Israel in the near future

[News_Editor]

Syrian President Assad says no indication of achieving peace with Israel in the near future

2010-10-28 23:46:46 GMT+7 (ICT)

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (BNO NEWS) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday said that there is no indication that Israel is willing to resume talks for achieving peace in the near future, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.

"The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't believe in peace and isn't interested in achieving it. There are no indications that the peace process would advance in the near future," Assad said.

The Syrian President expressed his remarks during a meeting with U.S. Senator Arlen Specter in Damascus. In addition, Assad and Specter discussed the latest regional developments, stressing the importance of finding suitable circumstances for achieving peace in the region.

The meeting was also attended by Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, Presidential Political and Media Advisor Bouthaina Shaaban and Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mikdad.

The comments of the Syrian leader came after the United States attempted to sway Syria away from the influence of Iran. The U.S. also expressed its concern over recent reports that indicate that Damascus is involved in training and arming the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Last September, Assad met with George Mitchell, the U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Peace Process, and discussed the importance of resuming the serious and constructive dialog to develop the bilateral relations and ensure the security and stability of the region.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2010-10-28

[Gumballl]

What does this news article have to do with Thailand?

[chuckd]

What does this news article have to do with Thailand?

Please note the title of this sub-forum is....WORLD NEWS.

[cdnvic]

What does this news article have to do with Thailand?

Please note the title of this sub-forum is....WORLD NEWS.

Someone has his reading glasses on.

[Ulysses G.]

The Arabs are trying to use building in East Jerusalem as an excuse not to hold peace talks, but Israel has always made it clear that Jerusalem is their capital and that they will not stop building and will not negotiate about giving it up.

The Palestinians have no real claim to it as it has been mostly Jewish for at least the last 130 years. Actually, the Arabs only demand it, in order to use as a bargainng chip.

[slapout]

Whatever the real or perceived reasons for either sides reluctance/excuse for nonproductive talks, the statement alleged to Assad is probably more perceptive than anyone wants to admit.

[canuck1941]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Capital of Israel)

There are differing legal and diplomatic positions on Jerusalem held within the international community.^[1] States and scholars alike are divided over the legal status of Jerusalem under international law.^[2] Most countries of the world do not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Many do not recognize it as a city that is properly Israel's. Many UN member states formally adhere to the United Nations proposal that Jerusalem should have an international status.^[3]

The chief dispute revolves around Israel’s control of East Jerusalem, while broader agreement exists regarding Israeli presence in West Jerusalem.^[2] De jure, the majority of UN member states and most international organisations do not recognise Israel's control of East Jerusalem which occurred after the 1967 Six Day War, nor its 1980 Jerusalem Law proclamation, which declared a "complete and united" Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.^[4] As a result, foreign embassies are generally located in Tel Aviv and its suburbs, or suburbs of Jerusalem such as Mevaseret Zion.^[3]

Jerusalem is a highly contentious issue in final status peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority, which claims Jerusalem as Al Quds, the capital of a future Palestinian state.^[5] Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has stated that “Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish people and will remain under Israeli sovereignty for eternity.”^[6]

Preceding the termination of the British Mandate of Palestine in May 1948, Great Britain requested that the United Nations General Assembly solve the territorial dispute between Arabs and Jews regarding Palestine. In November 1947 it adopted Resolution 181, which called for the partition of Palestine into an Arab and Jewish state, with Jerusalem being established as a corpus separatum, or a "separated body" with a special legal and political status, administered by the United Nations and separate from both states named in the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.^[9] Jewish representatives accepted the plan on the assumption that the Arabs would do likewise. However, the Arabs rejected the plan claiming it was illegal.^[2]

With the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948 and the subsequent invasion by surrounding Arab states, the UN proposal for Jerusalem never materialised. The 1949 Armistice Agreements left Jordan in control of the eastern parts of the city, while the western sector was held by Israel.^[10] Each side recognised the other's de facto control of their respective sectors.^[11] The Armistice Agreement, however, was considered internationally as having no legal effect on the continued validity of the provisions of the partition resolution for the internationalisation of Jerusalem.^[12] Soon after Israel declared that Jerusalem was an inseparable part of the State of Israel and its eternal capital. In 1950 Jordan annexed eastern Jerusalem, a move recognised only by the United Kingdom and Pakistan. Foreign states did not recognise Jordanian or Israeli rule over the respective areas of the city under their control.^[10]

^{The status of Jerusalem will either be the last card to play for peace or the reason for a nuclear holocaust.}

[Ulysses G.]

MYTH

"Jerusalem is an Arab City."

FACT

Jews have been living in Jerusalem continuously for three millennia. They have constituted the largest single group of inhabitants there since the 1840's. Jerusalem contains the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.

Jerusalem was never the capital of any Arab entity. In fact, it was a backwater for most of Arab history. Jerusalem never served as a provincial capital under Muslim rule nor was it ever a Muslim cultural center. For Jews, the entire city is sacred, but Muslims revere a site — the Dome of the Rock — not the city. "To a Muslim," observed British writer Christopher Sykes, "there is a profound difference between Jerusalem and Mecca or Medina. The latter are holy places containing holy sites." Besides the Dome of the Rock, he noted, Jerusalem has no major Islamic significance.¹

[/url]MYTH

“Under UN Resolution 242, East Jerusalem is considered ‘occupied territory.’ Israel’s annexation of Jerusalem therefore violates the UN resolution.”

FACT

One drafter of the UN Resolution was then-U.S. Ambassador to the UN Arthur Goldberg. According to Goldberg, “Resolution 242 in no way refers to Jerusalem, and this omission was deliberate....Jerusalem was a discrete matter, not linked to the West Bank.” In several speeches at the UN in 1967, Goldberg said: “I repeatedly stated that the armistice lines of 1948 were intended to be temporary. This, of course, was particularly true of Jerusalem. At no time in these many speeches did I refer to East Jerusalem as occupied territory.”²¹

Because Israel was defending itself from aggression in the 1948 and 1967 wars, former President of the International Court of Justice Steven Schwebel wrote, it has a better claim to sovereignty over Jerusalem than its Arab neighbors.²²

“The basis of our position remains that Jerusalem must never again be a divided city. We did not approve of the status quo before 1967; in no way do we advocate a return to it now.”

— President George Bush