Subscribe Today
Request a Clip
Following are excerpts from an interview with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Mu'alem, aired on Al-Jazeera TV on April 19, 2006.
Walid Al-Mu'alem: We have said that the Shab'a Farms are Lebanese, but Syria cannot demarcate the border, as long as the occupation remains in the Golan and the Shab'a Farms. Are we supposed to send people with parachutes to demarcate the border with stones? Real-estate science says: First liberation, then delineation, and finally demarcation.
[...]
We believe the Iranian assurances that its [nuclear] activity is for peaceful purposes. According to the NPT, all signatories are entitled to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.
Interviewer: But Iran has now entered the "Nuclear Club"...
Walid Al-Mu'alem: Not yet. It still needs time. Secondly, we think Iran should give assurances to the Arab countries that its plan is really for peaceful purposes, and is not intended to attack any Arab country. My question is what poses a threat to the Arabs - what Iran is doing or what Israel is doing? In my view, the real threat to the Arabs comes from Israel, not from Iran.
[...]
There is a difference between resistance and the terrorism in Iraq. Terrorism is when Iraqi blood is targeted by violence. Every drop of Iraqi blood is important and precious for Syria. As for the resistance, it is legal as there is occupation.
[...]
When Israel violates the agreement and annexes the Golan Heights, this will constitute a declaration of war on Syria, and Syria will have to take the necessary measures to defend its rights and to defend itself. That's why I say that our people yearn for the liberation of the Golan, and we will invest all the efforts to liberate it, by all possible means.
Interviewer: Even if this means war?
Walid Al-Mu'alem: If war is forced upon us - why not?
Latest Clips
