U.S. security agents barred a Hezbollah television crew from attending Powell’s press conference

DAMASCUS, May 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Coming with clear-cut and strict "demands" that permit no room for compromise, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell dismissed Saturday, May 3, a Syrian U.N. proposal to make the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

Speaking to reporters before talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Powell signaled that Washington regarded the proposal as "political" and would not support it.

"It has always been a United States goal that conditions should be created in this part of the world where no nation would have a need for weapons of mass destruction," he said.

"I am not supportive at the moment of a particular declaration that might be put forward for political purposes or to highlight the issue," Powell said.

"It remains an overall U.S. objective that we would like to see the region free from weapons of mass destruction," he added.

"Much has changed since my last visit to Syria ... We have two dynamics at work," he said before talks with Assad.

"I am here to pursue diplomacy and mutual political efforts. The issue of war and hostilities is not on the table," he added, noting that he was eager to hear Assad's assessment of the new situation in the region, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The way to move to that end, Powell suggested, is to ensure the success of the roadmap, which envisions a Palestinian state by 2005, but also calls for a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace settlement including Syria and Lebanon .

"We are interested in a comprehensive solution that will involve creation of a Palestinian state and settling the outstanding issues between Israel and Lebanon and Israel and Syria ."

To expand the roadmap, Powell said, Syria and Lebanon had to address U.S. and Israeli concerns, which include their support for organizations such as  and Palestinian "rejectionist groups."

On Wednesday, April 30, the U.S. unveiled the long-awaited roadmap Mideast peace plan after the approval of the new Palestinian cabinet of Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) by the Palestinian parliament.

Syria made the proposal in response to U.S. allegations it is developing chemical weapons and in an effort to renew Arab objections to Israel 's undeclared but widely known nuclear arms programs.

The Syrian proposal, made last month at the United Nations is not new. The idea of establishing a nuclear-free-weapons zone in the Middle East was raised by Iran and by Egypt in the 1970s and has been endorsed by annual resolutions in the U.N. General Assembly since 1980.

In 1995, states that had ratified the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty called for a WMD-free zone in the Middle East .

Adoption of the resolution making that call was one of the conditions for indefinitely extending the NPT.  

But there are fundamental obstacles to setting up such a zone, among them Israel 's failure even to sign, let alone ratify, the NPT, and its refusal to discuss details of its nuclear arsenal.

Powell arrived in Damascus late Friday, May 2, making his first Middle East tour in more than a year.  

Emerging from a meeting with his Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara, Powell noted that if Damascus refused to change with the times, it may be subject to new U.S. sanctions under the 2001 U.S.A. Patriot Act which aims to quell terrorism and possibly under the Syria Accountability Act which several vocal lawmakers have reintroduced in Congress after failing to win passage last year.  

Meanwhile, U.S. security agents barred a  television crew from attending Powell’s press conference, AFP said.