Palestinians, Syria share concerns about new Israel PM

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2009

DAMASCUS (AFP) — Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad voiced common concerns on Saturday about the policies of the new right-leaning Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, official media reported.

"Assad and Abbas discussed the peace process in the region and in particular the obstacles put in the way of the creation of a Palestinian state by Benjamin Netanyahu," the Syrian Arab News Agency said.

The Israeli prime minister finally publicly accepted the principle of Palestinian statehood on June 14 but hedged it with a raft of conditions unacceptable to the Palestinians.

He insisted that any Palestinian state should be totally demilitarised with no control over its own air space, and that it should accept Israel as a...