Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Al-Otari warned Saturday that peace would not materialize in the Middle East before Israel withdrew from the Golan Heights and the other Arab territories it occupied in the 1967 six-day war. "The region and its peoples will not enjoy peace unless it provides for the return of the entirety of the Golan Heights until the June 4, 1967 borders," Al-Otari said during the opening meeting of the Joint Higher Jordanian-Syrian Commission. He added that any peace agreement between Israel and Arab countries should also provide for the liberation of the part of Lebanese territory still occupied by Israel as well as "the regaining of the Palestinian people's rights including the setting up of their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital". "For a long time, Syria has committed itself to the establishment of peace provided it is comprehensive and involves all tracks in accordance with the international legitimacy resolutions, the Madrid conference reference, the principle of land for peace and the Arab peace initiative," he was quoted as saying by the German news agency "DPA." --MORE
