Assad: Israel not interested in Mideast stability

In a meeting with the Czech deputy prime minister, Syria’s president said Thursday that peace will not be realized in the Middle East because Tel Aviv is not interested in ensuring regional stability.

President Bashar al-Assad said Syria believes that stability will not be established under Israel’s disingenuous approaches toward peace.

Czech Deputy Prime Minister Jan Kohout, who also serves as minister of foreign affairs, expressed appreciation on Syria’s active role in finding solutions to the regional problems, voicing his country’s willingness to play a positive role in resolving Middle East problems.

He also expressed his country’s desire to see an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights and returning it to Syria in line with the UN Security Council and the international resolutions, ISRIA reported.

Syria maintains that Israel’s withdrawal from Golan Heights is the precondition for peace between Damascus and Tel Aviv.

Israel captured the Golan Heights following the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed the Syrian territory in 1981. In 2007, Israeli warplanes destroyed Syria’s al-Kibar military site blaming the country of harboring a nuclear reactor there — a claim rejected by Syria.

In February 2007, Israel and Syria launched Turkey-mediated indirect peace talks aimed at reaching a comprehensive peace agreement.

Syria later withdrew from the talks in protest at Israel’s December 2008-January 2009 all-out military strike on the Gaza Strip, where at least 1,400 Palestinians lost their lives under three weeks of non-stop fire.