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U.S., Israel In Position Of Weakness, Syrian Leader Says In Iran
TEHRAN, Jan 25 (News Agencies) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Thursday in Iran that the United States and Israel were on the defensive and that Washington's efforts to mediate in the region had failed.
"Israel and the United States are in a position of weakness and on the defensive and, despite all the pressures that weigh on the Palestinian people, the Intifada continues," Assad said after meeting Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"Now the Palestinians instead of throwing stones are taking arms," he said, quoted by Iran's official IRNA news agency.
He added that the Palestinian uprising was the result of "Israel's defeat in south Lebanon," referring to Israel's 22-year occupation which ended in May.
"The whole world has recognized that Israel has never desired peace and will never desire peace. Nine years of fruitless discussions confirm that," Assad said, as Palestinian and Israeli negotiators prepared to resume talks in Taba, Egypt.
For his part, Khamenei said, "a new era has been installed in the region."
"The future of Palestine will not be that wanted by certain great powers, or what is being weaved in discussions. And Syria plays an important role in that respect," he said.
Late Wednesday, after a meeting with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, Assad said the policies of former president Bill Clinton's administration on the Middle East had "failed."
"Syria wants a fair and stable peace that will assure the interests of all," said Assad, who arrived here Wednesday on his first trip to close regional ally Iran since taking power six months ago after the death of his father.
"I believe that our countries' good relations, which held firm under the most difficult circumstances, must be aimed at protecting the interests of all Arab and Islamic countries in the region," he said.
Khatami, for his part, said Tehran has a "special respect for the Syrian government's resistance against the Zionist forces," adding that both countries share "close views on the peace talks."
He said the Palestinian issue was one of the most pressing in the region, adding, "Palestine belongs to all Palestinians."
"A stable peace cannot be reached without the realization of the Palestinian people's rights."
He said the only solution to provide for and maintain the region's interests was for all Israel's neighbors to shape their policies to "defend the Islamic resistance in Lebanon and the Palestinian Intifada."
"Our two countries are moving towards the realization of the just rights of all Muslim nations with the cooperation of Arab and Islamic countries," Khatami affirmed.
Tehran and Damascus traditionally take similar positions on the Arab-Israeli conflict and both support the Palestinian Intifada.
Iran, which strongly opposes the Middle East peace process, has refrained from directly criticizing Damascus for its on-again, off-again negotiations with the Jewish state.
Arab diplomatic sources said Assad, who was in the United Arab Emirates Sunday, could also try to mediate a long-running dispute between Abu Dhabi and Tehran over three Gulf islands claimed by both.
Assad, accompanied by a high-ranking political delegation, is scheduled to leave Tehran later Thursday after a visit to the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic republic.
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