Kerry calls for easing US sanctions against Syria

BACK FROM MIDEAST Senator John Kerry said that the sanctions "can always be tightened again if Syria backtracks."

WASHINGTON - Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, who recently returned from a Middle East trip that included stops in Damascus and Gaza, called yesterday for loosening sanctions on Syria, which he praised for opening a stock market and sending an ambassador to Iraq.

"Loosening certain sanctions in exchange for verifiable changes in behavior can actually benefit US businesses," Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told a packed auditorium at the Brookings Institution. "The sanctions can always be tightened again if Syria backtracks."

In his speech, Kerry urged the Obama administration to play a role in mediating ongoing peace talks between Syria and Israel - a move he said Syrian President Bashar Assad would welcome.

The Bush administration shunned Syria for more than four years, accusing the regime of fostering the insurgency in Iraq, meddling in Lebanon's affairs by assassinating its elected leaders, and supporting anti-Israeli militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

But the Obama administration has signaled a thaw in relations in an attempt to encourage Syria to make peace with Israel and to pry the regime away from its close alliance with Iran. Syria's ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, who attended Kerry's speech, met last week with officials at the State Department for two hours after years of relative diplomatic silence. US laws still discourage trade with Syria. Medicine and food can be sent, but other goods must apply for special permission.

Critics called it premature to loosen sanctions. David Schenker, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a conservative-leaning think tank, said that Syria is still "actively undermining every US interest in the Middle East."

Yesterday, Kerry also described his visit to the town of Izbet Abed Rabo in the Gaza Strip, a rare trip for US officials who have avoided the territory for years because of the danger of attacks by militants, and because it is controlled by Hamas, which the United States considers a terrorist organization.

"I saw little Palestinian girls playing in the rubble where, just months ago, buildings stood," Kerry said. Upon seeing the ruins of the American school there, he said, "I was moved by the enormity of the humanitarian challenge."

Kerry called for a regional "road map" based on a 2002 Saudi peace initiative in which Arab states would commit to specific actions - such as ending support for Hamas - to bring about a regional peace with Israel.

"Qatar can't continue to be an American ally on Monday that sends money to Hamas on Tuesday," he said.

Kerry said he believes that Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, despite his hard-line reputation, is prepared to do "important things" for peace. Kerry also called on the Obama administration to take measures to ensure that Israel freezes West Bank settlements.

"Nothing will do more to make clear our seriousness about turning the page than demonstrating - with actions rather than words - that we are serious," Kerry said.

"For decades, American presidents, Democrat and Republican alike, have opposed new settlement activity and recognized that the settlements are an obstacle to peace," he said. "But in our honest moments we would all acknowledge that this policy has usually existed on paper alone."