"We are not going to war anymore," declared Imad Mustapha, Syria's envoy to Washington, at a meeting held at the Middle East Institute, Tuesday. "We want to regain the Golan through negotiations.

Mustapha concedes "convincing (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon is a formidable task" but he said the Bush administration could help push the process forward.

However, Mustapha reminded the audience, which included several Israeli journalists and members of AIPAC -- the powerful pro-Israeli lobby, and from whom the Syrian envoy took questions -- "the core issue of the Middle East crisis remains the Palestinian issue.

"Peace will not prevail in the Middle East until the basic problem (the Palestinian issue) is solved," he said.