Syria minister sees West Asia peace process in '07

DAMASCUS, Nov 6 (Reuters) Syria hopes for a West Asia peace process to be launched next year and is pleased that some Israelis want to reopen negotiations on the Golan Heights, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said today.

''We hope to have in 2007 a peace process to settle the (Arab-Israeli) issue,'' Moualem said after meeting Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere in the Syrian capital.

Moualem said that despite predictions in the Israeli press of another West Asia war, Syria welcomed a debate going on inside the Jewish state about whether to resume negotiations with Damascus over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

''Syria appreciates these voices,'' Moualem said.

Talks between Israel and Syria over the Golan Heights, a mountainous plateau occupied by Israel since 1967, collapsed in 2000 after Syria insisted on regaining control of all the strategic piece of land.

''If the Israelis are thinking of launching a war next year this is not the way. They need to understand that using force does not solve issues,'' Moualem said without elaborating.

Syria has endorsed calls by countries such as Russia for an international West Asia conference, similar to the 1991 Madrid conference which led to direct talks between Syria and Israel.

European nations have begun re-establishing high-level contacts with Syria since the latest Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon, sparked by Hizbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers in July.

Officials from Britain, Spain, Italy and Germany have had contacts with the Syrian side. An adviser for British Prime Minister Tony Blair and senior intelligence officers from London met Syrian officials last week.

Stoere, who also met President Bashar al-Assad, said Damascus, which hosts high-level Hamas officials and backs the Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hizbollah, was a key player.

''Syria is a neighbour to many of the most urgent issues that need to be solved in the region,'' Stoere said.

Stoere said Norway, which orchestrated secret talks that led to the 1993 Oslo accords on interim arrangements for Palestinian self-rule, was keen to maintain a dialogue with Syria.

His talks with Assad focused on violence in the Palestinian territories, Iraq and efforts to arrange a prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel, a diplomat familiar with the talks said.

Diplomats in Damascus said Syria had shown it would respond positively to European overtures but had not yet outlined practical steps it would be willing to take to help arrange a prisoner exchange or stop the alleged movement to Iraq of arms which are then used against US-led occupation forces.

Reuters AKJ DB2119