Syria, Saudi Arabia discuss regional peace

DAMASCUS, Syria (Reuters) -- Saudi Arabia and Syria held talks on the stalled Middle East peace process and ways of promoting bilateral cooperation, participants said on Thursday.

Saudi Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, Emir of the Riyadh region, held separate meetings with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara on Wednesday evening. He left Damascus on Thursday, they said.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Shara said that the talks had addressed the Jerusalem, a major sticking point in talks between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators, saying the city should be returned to the Arab sovereignty.

"Jerusalem is attached to our minds and hearts. It should be returned to the full Arab sovereignty," Shara said.

Israel says that Jerusalem is its eternal and unified capital. The Palestinians say that East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel since the 1967 war, should be the capital of a future independent Palestinian state.

"The talks also dealt with ways of restoring Arab solidarity and joint Arab action. Viewpoints were identical on the necessity of improving the Arab situation," Shara said.

Saudi Arabia has been playing an active mediation role in the Israeli-Palestinian talks.

Syria's peace talks with Israel, which opened in Madrid in 1991, broke off in January without a breakthrough on the fate of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 war.

Syria rejected an Israeli offer of partial withdrawal from the strategic plateau.

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