Britain’s Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr. David Ennals, had his first session of talks with Syria’s Foreign Minister, Mr. Abdel Halim Khaddam, on Saturday (15 November) at the Syrian Foreign Ministry in Damascus.
The two men reviewed the situation in the Middle East and the Israeli attitude to resolutions passed at the United Nations. They also considered the problems posed by the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
Mr. Khaddam told Mr. Ennals that there would be no peace in the Middle East unless the two main Arab conditions were met. They were, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all Arab territories, and the recognition by the Israeli Government of the rights of the Arab Palestinian people.
Mr. Ennals flew to Syria from Amman in Jordan where he had talks with King Hussein. Those talks had concentrated mainly on how Jordan could benefit from the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Economic Community (Common Market).
The British Minister is on a tour of several Middle Eastern countries, and his stay in Syria was expected to last four days.
