Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called on Israel on Sunday to prove that it was interested in forging a peace deal by withdrawing from all occupied Arab territory, six months after the long-time foes relaunched indirect negotiations."Peace for Israel is a tactical act and not a strategic choice," Assad spoke Sunday at the opening session of a meeting of Arab parliamentarians in the Syrian capital Damascus.
"Israel must provide proof of its desire for peace because it is the Israelis who are occupying our land and aggressing our people," he said, adding that Syria would never make any concessions to the Zionist entity.
Indirect negotiations between the two neighbors - which technically remain in a state of war - were resumed in May under Turkish mediation but have been on hold since July.
The two sides held four rounds of discussions but a fifth round scheduled for October was postponed at Israel's request amid political turmoil following the resignation of scandal-hit Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Direct negotiations were frozen eight years ago after Israel baulked at Syrian demands for the return of the whole of the occupied Golan Heights, right down to the Sea of Galilee, its main water source.
Israel seized the Golan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move never recognized by the international community.
"Until now, Israel has been using the peace slogan for internal political purposes and world opinion believes these Israeli maneuvers," Assad said, calling on Israel to withdraw to the pre-1967 war borders.
"Syria decided to resume the peace process... because we are committed to achieving a fair and comprehensive peace," he said, but added that "Our rights cannot be the subject of compromise."
Assad has said that the negotiations need "international patronage" chiefly from the United States, despite the chilly state of diplomatic relations between Damascus and Washington.
Assad also criticized a proposed American-Iraqi security pact that would keep US occupation troops in Iraq for three more years. He said US troops contribute to regional instability and should withdraw from Iraq.
A recent American raid inside Syria near its border with Iraq is confirmation that the US will use Iraq as a base to attack its neighbors, he added.
Iraq has asked the US for an explicit ban in the pact on the use of Iraqi soil for attacks against the country's neighbors. The US has replied to the request, but the details are not known.
Last month, Syrian authorities said US occupation troops attacked a village near the border with Iraq, killing eight civilians. A US official in Washington claimed the raid was targeting militants smugglings arms and fighters into Iraq.
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