DAMASCUS: Syria said on Wednesday it was interested in a just and comprehensive peace with Israel, but it did not see a role for itself in this week’s talks between the United States and some Arab leaders on Middle East peace.

“Syria did not expect to be invited to the summit and did not wish to... Its focus was the roadmap (peace plan) and Syria has said that the roadmap is a Palestinian-Israeli affair,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Buthaina Shaaban said.

It has been Syria’s policy since 1993 to avoid involvement in Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. Its own peace talks with the Jewish state broke down in 2000 over the future of the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war.

Shaaban said Syria’s stance was unchanged on the resumption of peace talks so long as they build on the outcome of previous talks. “It is only logical that what has been arrived at should be taken into consideration,” Shaaban said.

Israel has said it was willing to resume peace talks with Syria but it insists that there should be no preconditions.

Syria and Lebanon — the only two Arab neighbours of Israel yet to sign a peace deal with the Jewish state — stayed away from the Aqaba summit aimed at mobilizing Arab-Israeli peace efforts through the US-backed peace plan.

Some Arab media reports speculated that Washington did not invite Syria to the summit due to tensions with Damascus, which was a stern opponent to its war in Iraq.

Prominent Syrian political analyst Imad al-Shuaibi said Syria’s absence from the summit reflected its belief that the talks would not achieve any progress.—Reuters