Syria denounced Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's insistence that peace talks can only resume with no preconditions, saying Friday that Sharon wanted to erase what was achieved in previous talks.
Damascus has long said that if talks with Israel resume, they must pick up where they left off in 2000.
Sharon Thursday said in a TV interview he was prepared to resume negotiations with Syria as long as Damascus brought no conditions to the table.
State-run Damascus Radio said Friday that "negotiations without preconditions, according to Israel, means suspending international terms of reference in order to negotiate on Israel's terms, which regard Israeli security as the basis for peace."
"This contradicts the land-for-peace principle," said the radio.
"What Israel is trying to do is to contain or thwart any serious move toward a just and comprehensive peace in the region through resorting to maneuvers and misleading ways to evade carrying out the requirements of peace," the radio said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
