The borders of the Shebaa farms cannot be demarcated under the Israeli occupation, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said on Thursday.
Muallem made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Fawzi Salukh after the two-day summit between their presidents, Syria's Bashar al-Assad and Lebanon's Michel Suleiman.
"Demarcating the Shebaa farms cannot be made under the Israeli occupation ... this occupation should be ended," Muallem said, responding to a question on the definition of the disputed area.
The Shebaa farms were a mountainous sliver of land affluent in water resources measuring 25 square km, located at the junction of southeast Lebanon, southwest Syria and northern Israel.
The Shebaa farms were occupied by Israel during the 1967 Mideast war along with the Syrian Golan Heights. Israel pulled out of south Lebanon in 2000, but kept control over the Shebaa Farms.
Israel said the Shebaa Farms were part of the Golan Heights and should be dealt with in its negotiation with Syria, but Lebanon and Syria insist that the farms are part of the Lebanese territory.
In a joint statement read at the news conference, Assad and Suleiman agreed on the resumption of a joint committee for delimitation and demarcation of the Lebanese-Syrian borders.
Suleiman arrived in Damascus earlier on Wednesday for a groundbreaking two-day visit to Syria.
During their first day of talks, Assad and Suleiman formally declare to establish diplomatic ties at ambassadorial level.
This is Suleiman's first ever visit to Syria after he took the presidency and also the first by a Lebanese president to Damascus since his predecessor, the then Lebanese President Emile Lahoud's visit in March 2005.
Source:Xinhua
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