BERLIN, (Islamweb & Agencies) -Syria's Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara on Wednesday demanded Israel return the Golan Heights, as President Bashar al-Assad met his German counterpart Johannes Rau and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.Assad did not speak to reporters, but Fischer said after their talks that an end to confrontational rhetoric would help ease the way to peace.
Germany, he said, felt it was "very important that violence in southern Lebanon should come to an end and of course rhetoric should be changed in the region. I think this also is very important."
The talks between Assad and Fischer focused on the stalemate in the peace process, said Shara, who blamed the blockage on the "aggressive attitude of the Israeli government."
Asked about comments by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that the annexation by Israel of the Golan Heights should be made irreversible, Shara said: "The Golan Heights should return to Syria sooner or later. This is our response."
On the first day of his visit Tuesday, Assad met German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who said after their talks that the Mitchell Report on the conflict in the Middle East was the "central instrument" towards reaching peace in the region. (Read photo caption).
Assad for his part did not mention the Mitchell report, saying instead at a joint press conference with Schroeder that "UN resolutions must be applied," apparently referring to demands for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories
The Mitchell Plan, named after the commission led by former US senator George Mitchell, calls among other things on the Israelis to stop expanding Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories.
Assad left Berlin on a plane headed for Damascus late Wednesday after the two day visit, a German foreign ministry spokesman said.
PHOTO CAPTION:
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, right, and Syrian President Bashar Assad, left, listen to the national anthems in the Chancellery in Berlin, Tuesday, July 10, 2001. Assad is on a two-day-visit to Germany. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
- Jul 10 2:04 PM ET