ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 7 - Syria Wants Talks.

In an interview with leading Kuwaiti daily Al Qabas, Syrian FM Farouq Al Shara says Damascus wants dialogue with US despite month-old US economic sanctions. He says: "The Syria Accountability Act is a law that runs counter to international law. Israel succeeded in passing it to Congress without any questions or answers". (Many Arabs said the imposition of economic sanctions in May was one of a series of US Middle East policy mistakes driven by a bias towards Israel, the only country in the region to welcome the step. Pres. Bush banned all US exports to Syria other than food or medicine, accusing it of backing terrorism, seeking unconventional weapons and doing too little to stop anti-US militants from crossing its border into Iraq. Syria denies giving more than political support to groups fighting Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and to Hizbollah. The US classifies them as terrorists). Asked if US-Syrian relations reached a dead end, Shara replies: "American-Syrian relations are bad because of the bad US policy in the region, and due to its blind bias in favour of Israel, and we hope they don't reach a dead end. Yet despite all of that, Syria sees that there is no substitute for dialogue".