SYRIA: Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos arrive in Damascus

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos arrived in Damascus on Saturday (October 14) for an unannounced visit. Moratinos, who served as the European Union's Middle East envoy until 2003, was received at the airport by his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Moualem. "I think we are working together with these other actors but the European Union, of course, has its own position. It has its own commitment. And we try, as you know, to have some positive input in this part of the world," Moratinos said, speaking to reporters from inside the airport's VIP lounge. "But I'm coming not on behalf of the European Union - I'm coming on behalf of Spain, a friendly country with Syria, with the Middle East and, you know, we try to support all these peace efforts in order to achieve this objective," he added. Last month Spain floated the idea of a second Middle East peace summit along the lines of the Madrid conference which opened the way to direct peace talks between Israel and its neighbours in 1991. The Madrid peace conference of 1991 brought together former U.S. President George W. Bush, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and foreign ministers from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. Based on the principle that Israel should give up occupied land in return for peace with its Arab neighbours, as had already happened between Israel and Egypt, the conference led to a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan in 1994 and a series of high-level talks between Israel and Syria, which came close to an agreement in 2000. In September Moratinos said the war between Israel and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah this summer showed the futility of seeking military solutions to the Arab-Israeli conflict or of trying to impose solutions unilaterally. The Spanish minister is scheduled to hold a news conference Sunday morning (October 15) following talks with Syrian officials including President Bashar al-Assad.

ITN Source | October 15, 2006

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