THOSE INVOLVED in the peace process have shown admirable patience in negotiations leading up to the Belfast Agreement, and also since then, the Syrian ambassador to the UK has said.
Dr Sami Khiyami admitted the Irish and Middle East peace processes were different, but said: “There are of course lessons to be learned from the Irish process – essentially Irish patience in the negotiations to achieve peace.”
Speaking to The Irish Times during his two-day visit to Belfast yesterday, he said the role of Senator George Mitchell, now special envoy to the Middle East, was greatly admired in Syria.
But he added: “Senator Mitchell up until now has been prevented from advancing his plan to reintroduce good negotiations by the difficult Israeli positions and the continuation of the policy of settlements that is jeopardising all efforts at peace in the region.
“We will have to help the American administration to be able to put more pressures on the Israeli government. Israel has to become a normal state – no more killing of Palestinians, no more settlement policies. This whole process needs much more effort.”
He stressed that the Obama administration had to press more “on the side that is still not believing in peace”. The new US administration “is quite different from the Bush administration”, he said, adding that it was genuinely interested in peace.
Dr Khiyami met First Minister Peter Robinson and officials of the main parties at Stormont yesterday for talks which he said were mainly on cultural and economic issues. He was unable to have talks with Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, who had another engagement, but he did meet SDLP deputy leader Alasdair McDonnell, Alliance leader David Ford, Ulster Unionist deputy leader Danny Kennedy and Sinn Féin’s Mitchel McLaughlin.
Asked whether anyone from local parties could constructively contribute to Middle East peace efforts, Dr Khiyami said: “We are open to all parties in Northern Ireland in order to create the best relations.” Asked for his priorities, he said: “We want to recover our occupied Golan, that is our first priority. It remains to be seen if Israeli society and government are ready for peace.”
On Monday, the ambassador said his country would do what it could to help in avoiding a nuclear crisis involving Iran. “In view of the fact that Syria can play a positive role with Iran if the international community decides to promise to make the Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, then Syria will use all of its good offices with Iran,” he said. “This requires that countries like Israel with a huge nuclear arsenal destroy their nuclear warheads.”
Dr Khiyami travels to Dublin today for engagements including talks with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin.