"This initiative reminds us of the situation that prevailed before the first world war, when the major power were working to carve up the region for themselves," Khaddam told reporters, following a meeting with a delegation of Iraqi tribal representatives visiting Syria.
Khaddam said the promoters of the initiative "forgot the Israeli crimes perpetrated in Palestine."
To bring security and stability to the Middle East, it is necessary to "put an end to the Israeli occupation of Arab lands and to apply United Nations (news - web sites) resolutions" regarding the Israeli-Arab conflict, he said.
Washington officials say the "Greater Middle East Initiative" aims to encourage democratic reform and economic opening in the Arab world and other Muslim countries with an eye toward abating the frustration and poverty on which international terrorism thrives.
Those accepting the reforms will receive support and preferential treatment from Washington and its main Western allies, according to the plan, which the United States has unveiled only in its broad lines to date.
US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) wants to make the initiative a centerpiece of the June summit of Group of Eight industrialized nations.
Khaddam, asked about similar initiatives presented by European countries, agreed that "reforms are necessary" for the Arab world to evolve.
But, he added, "Arabs will choose and (the reforms) will not be imposed on them."
Syria's foreign minister, Faruq al-Shareh, said Tuesday that Western reform initiatives for the Middle East should include the question of Arab territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war.
Syria says Israel has rejected Syrian attempts to resume peace negotiations, suspended since January 2000, aimed at recovering the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau captured by Israel in the 1967 war.
