Syria has urged the United States to wield its influence and help revive peace negotiations with Israel. "Syria wants the United States to work seriously for a resumption of the peace process with Israel at the point where it broke down," the official al-Thawra newspaper said on Saturday.
| Israel says they'll talk, but the talks will start from scratch... |
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime faces the threat of US sanctions, said last month he wanted to restart negotiations with Israel that collapsed four years ago. But despite some support within his own government, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rebuffed the overture. Sharon instead announced plans to increase by half the Jewish population of the Golan Heights, which was seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and unilaterally annexed in 1981. "Syria wants the United States to play an honest, neutral, objective and credible role... and not allow Israel to miss this opportunity, as Sharon tried to do by saying the negotiations must start from scratch," the newspaper said.
| They're hoping they can get a better deal from us. |
Under ex-PM Barak, Israel agreed to withdraw from most of the Golan Heights except for a narrow strip of land, an option Syria rejected. Syria's appeal was made even though Washington has threatened Damascus with diplomatic and economic sanctions, accusing it of "sponsoring terrorism" and developing weapons of mass destruction.
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