India backs Syria sovereignty on Golan

India has given its support to a comprehensive and permanent peace in the Middle East, backing Syria’s right of sovereignty over the Israeli occupied Golan Heights.

“India has consistently supported all just Arab causes,” Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil said on Saturday, following a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, India’s ANI news agency reported.

“I would like to reiterate India’s unwavering support for a lasting and comprehensive peace to the Middle East problem, based on relevant UN resolutions,” she said during a joint press conference with Assad.

“I would also like to reiterate our strong support for Syria’s legitimate right to the Golan Heights, and for its very early and full return to Syria,” she told reporters.

The Syrian leader, for his part, thanked the Indian president for her support for Arab rights and expressed hope that “Syrian-Indian relations together with international efforts will help put an end to the sufferings of the Palestinian people, blockaded by an apartheid wall.”

Assad also criticized Israel for obstructing economic development in the region by its warlike Middle East policies.

“The absence of peace in our region due to Israel’s policies… raises tensions and undermines economic development and prosperity,” AFP quoted Assad as saying.

In the Six-Day War of 1967, Israeli troops occupied Syria’s strategic Golan Heights and Tel Aviv later annexed the strategic territory in 1981 in a move condemned by the international community.

Four rounds of indirect talks between Tel Aviv and Damascus have failed due to Israel’s refusal to return the occupied Syrian territory.