Syria says ready to join in U.S. peace conference

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria is ready to take part in a U.S.-sponsored conference on Palestinian-Israeli peace although Washington is behind instability in the Middle East, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on Tuesday.

President George W. Bush said the meeting would convene before the end of the year but gave scant details. It is not known whether the U.S. administration plans to invite Syria, whose ties with Washington plummeted in recent years.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed the proposed conference with Arab officials in Egypt on Tuesday and said the meeting should not be portrayed as "Made in America."

"Syria will support and participate in any international conference for peace. The objectives, participants and grounds for such an initiative must be made clear," Moualem said after meeting Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos in the Syrian capital.

"Bush has cast himself as a peace maker. He has to gain the trust of all parties and not start a dangerous arms race in the region," Moualem said.

Moualem was referring to recent U.S. arms sales offers to Arab Gulf States and a 25 percent rise in military aid to Israel, which has been occupying the Syrian Golan Heights since 1967.

Syria has intensified its calls for peace talks with Israel to regain the territory. Israel says Syria's alliance with Iran, support for the Palestinian group Hamas and the Lebanese movement Hezbollah stands in the way of resuming the negotiations, which collapsed in 2000.

The United States, Israel's chief ally, imposed sanctions on Syria in 2004, mainly for Damascus' support for Hamas and Hezbollah.