Syrian Vice President Farouk al- Shara on Tuesday said here that the Middle East peace process is an inseparable whole to include various issues.

After meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Shara told a press conference that Syria is keen on restoring the Golan Heights and all the occupied Arab lands along with setting up an independent state of Palestine, noting that Syria is not seeking a barter deal with the U.S. for establishing peace on the Syrian track.

As for the Arab peace initiative that Saudi Arabia proposed and the Arab League adopted in 2002 Beirut summit, which says Arab states can recognize Israel if it withdrew from the occupied Palestinian territories to the 1967 borders, Shara said that the initiative completely tallied with international legitimacy resolutions, stressing that the amendments proposed by the Israelis over the issues of refugees and the borders are meant to find justifications for the Israelis not to accept the Arab peace initiative.

On the issue of Lebanon domestic crisis, Shara called on Lebanon not to "politicize" a proposed UN court to try suspects in the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005, saying that the tribunal was agreed in principle by all the parties in Lebanon and neither should it be used as a weapon nor should it be politicized.

Referring to the Syrian-American relations after the Iraq neighbors conference last week with the participants of both the U. S and Syria, Shara said that it would take a lot of time to dispel mutual doubts and scepticism before attaining warmth in bilateral relations.

In the meantime, Shara added that he had conveyed a message to Mubarak from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on coordinating stances regarding the coming Arab summit to be held in the Saudi capital Riyadh on March 28-29, during which Syria will propose means of reforming Arab conditions through reviving inter-Arab solidarity.

Al-Shara arrived here Tuesday morning and left here in the

afternoon ending a brief visit to Egypt.

Source: Xinhua