The Syrian government daily Ath-Thawra has attacked the terms set out by the Bush administration for heeding a bi-partisan panel's recommendation to open a dialogue on calming neighbouring Iraq. "It's stupid to ask for help and at the same time attach all sorts of conditions," Ath-Thawra said in an editorial on Friday.
"US efforts to present dialogue with Syria as an act of good faith are mean-minded as Syrians are not so taken with (President George W.) Bush as to perform free services for a country that supports Israel and cynically fights against Arab rights."
The US president on Wednesday dismissed the calls from the Iraq Study Group for dialogue with Syria, insisting that the Assad regime first cease what he said was connivance in the smuggling of men and materiel to insurgents in Iraq.
Ath-Thawra said the key issue for Syria was the return of the Golan Heights, which were occupied by Israel in 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1981. "You cannot tackle the Iraq question independently of the other issues in the region, because the root cause of all the problems is Israel's occupation of Arab lands," the paper said.
"As far as Syria is concerned, the recovery of the Golan Heights is the overriding priority."
