Syria Today | Obama voices support for Syrian-Israeli talks

Obama voices support for Syrian-Israeli talks

The United States should back the Syrian-Israeli peace process, US presidential candidate Barack Obama said on July 23.

Obama, a US senator and presumptive Democratic candidate to succeed President Bush, made the comments in Jerusalem during a tour of the Middle East last month.

According to media reports, Obama described the efforts to achieve peace between Syria and Israel as important, but added that as president “he would never put pressure on Israel to take steps that could put its security at risk”.

Obama’s comments follow the conclusion of a third round of indirect peace talks between Syria and Israel held in the Turkish capital Istanbul on July 1 and 2.

The talks took place despite the Israeli parliament giving its initial approval to a bill on June 30 that would make any withdrawal from the disputed Golan Heights area more difficult.

Last May, Syria and Israel confirmed they are conducting indirect peace talks to end the formal sate of war between the two countries; the main point of tension being Israel’s ongoing occupation of the water-rich Golan Heights which it captured in the 1967 war.

During the latest round of indirect talks, delegations from both countries stayed in separate hotels while Turkish mediators shuttled back and forth delivering messages.