The legitimate owner of the Golan Heights. An indispensable factor in Middle East peace. A strong advocate of Arab unity. The largest importer of Chinese cars. Syrian Ambassador to China, Mohamed Kheir al Wadi, defined his country with these compelling selling points, among others, in a recent interview with Beijing Review reporter Yan Wei. With President Bashar al Assad gearing up for a second term, Syria appears poised to dramatically improve its relations with other countries, from its Arab peers to China and the United States.

Beijing Review: Israel recently announced that it would return the Golan Heights to Syria, even thoughthe region is of great strategic importance to Israel. According to a recent survey in Israel, only 10 percent of the respondents supported the Israeli Government’s initiative to return the Golan Heights to Syria, while 44 percent were against withdrawing from the area. Against this backdrop, do you think it possible for Israel to give back the land?

Mohamed Kheir Al-Wadi: Golan was captured by Israel in the war of aggression it waged against Syria in 1967. Since then, the UN Security Council has adopted a series of resolutions demanding that Israel return Golan to Syria. Golan is a territory of Syria, and Israel should return it to Syria according to the resolutions of the UN Security Council, despite public opinion in Israel and the will of its authorities. The results of the survey you mentioned are evidence that Israel is continuing with its policy of aggression and occupation, and has won the support of most Israelis.

We are ready for peace talks. But the talks must lead to Israel’s withdrawal from Golan and return of the Syrian territory it occupies, and this issue is not negotiable. The negotiations should discuss elements of peace like security, water, etc, but only after the Israeli Government announces that it accepts to withdraw to the borders of June 4, 1967.

Peace talks were held when Yitzhak Rabin served as Israeli prime minister. We talked about Israel’s returning Golan to Syria, and Rabin agreed to return Golan to Syria. In fact, 80 percent of the problems were resolved in the talks. Unfortunately, Rabin was assassinated by Israeli radicals. With his death, all the efforts made in the negotiations ended up in vain.

Future negotiations should be based on previous achievements. All negotiations Syria will conduct with Israel are to be focused on the return of Golan.

Analysts say that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made the decision because of the political pressure he is facing, and the strategic adjustments the United States and Israel are making in the Middle East. What is your comment?

Syria didn’t receive any formal statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert about returning Golan to Syria. Only some Israeli news media are talking about the importance of Golan to Israel and possible peace talks between Israel and Syria. This shows Israel is not quite serious about returning Golan.

We hope that public opinion in Israel can pressure the Israeli Government to return Golan to Syria. We also hope that the United States will play a constructive role in Middle East affairs. However, as far as we see, the Bush administration does not support peace talks between Israel and Syria on the return of Golan. We don’t feel that the Bush administration has adopted a positive attitude toward resolving the predicament in the Middle East.

If Israel returns the Golan Heights to Syria, do you think peace will be realized between the two countries?

Peace between Syria and Israel will be based on Israel’s return of the Golan Heights and withdrawal from the territory it seized in the war in 1967. But until now we don’t feel that Israel is ready to provide the peace factors with Syria.

Diplomatic tensions between Syria and the United States eased somewhat recently, as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held the first ministerial-level meeting with Syria in more than two years in early May. In the next seven years, while President Bashar is in office, do you see further improvement in the two countries’ relations?

We hope to improve Syria-U.S. relations. Dialogue is the only way to do this. The meeting between Rice and her Syrian counterpart was a positive step forward. However, its outcome remains elusive. It is a common belief of the international community that the Middle East issue will not be resolved without Syria’s participation and that Syria is one of the stabilizing factors in the Middle East. We hope that the United States recognizes these facts.