By Xinhua
Damascus : An influential U.S. senator sounded upbeat on Sunday on the prospect of peace process between Syria and Israel after talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad.
“Syrians and Israelis are in a position to proceed to have a peace treaty,” U.S. Republican Senator Arlen Specter told reporters before ending a two-day visit here with Democratic Representative Patrick Kennedy.
Specter said his talks here with Assad and the talks he held a few days ago with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert indicated that it was possible for Syria and Israel to reach a peace agreement.
“The parties are going to have to continue talks through intermediaries,” said Specter.
Specter described his meeting with Assad as “very productive,” stating that the whole peace process is meaningless without the restoration of the Golan Heights to Syria.
“The core of any agreement is accepted that the Golan Heights will have to come back (to Syria),” noted Specter, adding that “It is fair to say that if there is no Golan Heights there is no deal.”
Meanwhile, Specter also indicated Israel’s concerns about the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) both supported by Syria.
“There are problems with Hamas and Hezbollah and there’s a perception that Syria could be helpful in those matters,” he said.
According to the official SANA news agency, Assad affirmed during the meeting with Specter and Kennedy that Syria has always favored peace as a strategic choice.
“Syria looks forward to every action that can lead to true peace,” Assad said, noting that it was why Syria participated in the Middle East conference in Annapolis.
The two sides exchanged views regarding the importance of pushing the peace process forward to achieve a just and comprehensive peace that guarantees security and stability in the region, SANA said.
They also affirmed the importance of communication between Syria and the United Nation to resolve regional issues, it added.
It is the 17th time that Specter, considered as one of the advocates of conducting a dialogue with Syria, came to Damascus.
The visit came within the framework of the continuous visits of U.S. Congressmen to Damascus, most importantly the visit of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who headed a delegation representing both the Democratic and Republican parties in April, SANA said.
Talks between Syria and Israel foundered in 2000 over the fate of the strategic Golan plateau, seized by the Jewish state in 1967and unilaterally annexed in 1981.