The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Damascus

Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Thursday that peace with Israel would follow the return to Syria of the strategic Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. "We are ready to establish a just and comprehensive peace in the region based on the application of UN security council resolutions," Muallem told a news conference with his visiting Austrian counterpart Ursula Plassnik. He said both sides must strive for peace and that Israel must be willing to return the key Golan plateau. "Syria will examine the issue of security on the two sides of the (Syrian-Israeli) border and the normalisation" of relations between the two countries, he said.