Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam says the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and his successor’s call for early elections obstructed a peace accord with Syria. Khaddam says in an interview that ‘Rabin’s killing (in November 1995) and Shimon Peres’ call for early elections were the principal reasons that obstructed achieving an accord between Syria and Israel.’
He tells United Press International, ‘Otherwise, they would have continued concluding the remaining points (of the peace accord).’ He says ‘We started to negotiate peaceful ties when Rabin was assassinated.’ He denies a suggestion by former Israeli negotiator Uri Zavir that Syria and Israel also reached agreement on sharing water, normalization and economic ties. Asked why they had not signed a peace accord under Rabin since Israel had agreed to Syria’s demand for a full pullout from the Golan Heights, Khaddam says: ‘We needed to complete all other peace elements in order to be able to sign a complete accord.’ The vice president declared Syria’s ‘immediate readiness’ to resume peace talks from where they stopped last year and based on Rabin’s peace pledges. He called on the international community to put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ‘to adjust his policies and renew commitment to the land-for-peace principle.’ The talks broke off after a wave of suicide bombings in Israel by Islamic extremists in February and March that left 63 people dead. —
