An APN delegation met on November 30 with Syria's ambassador to Washington, Imad Moustapha, to discuss prospects for resuming Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations.

The meeting, held at the Syrian embassy, was the first in a series of meetings that APN is holding with Washington representatives of important Middle East stakeholders. The meetings are intended to explore ways to reenergize regional diplomacy that could lead to Arab Israeli peace negotiations.

Ambassador Moustapha presented Syria's position: a call for an immediate resumption of peace talks with Israel, without pre-conditions. Dr. Moustapha echoed President Bashar Assad's recent statements that Syria and all other Arab countries would be willing to establish full, normal peaceful relations with Israel in return for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights and from Lebanese territories, and allowing the Palestinians to have their own independent sovereign and viable state. An Israeli-Syrian peace agreement, the ambassador said, would serve as a paradigm shift in the region and is bound to positively impact on Israel's relations with its other Arab neighbors.

APN representatives discussed with Ambassador Moustapha measures that Syria, Israel and the United States could take in order to produce the conditions for successful peace talks.

APN representatives told the ambassador that Syria's calls for peace talks would be more credible in the eyes of Israelis and Americans if the Syrian leadership stopped supporting terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah and helped in facilitating the release of Israeli soldiers held by these groups.

Israel's Peace Now movement has been in recent weeks urging Prime Minister Ehud Olmert not to reject President Assad's calls for peace talks. APN has been urging President Bush to facilitate such negotiations rather than advise Israel against them. APN is also urging the White House to reconsider its policy of diplomatically disengaging from Syria.