DAMASCUS, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Syria on Monday denounced Israel's continued occupation of territories of Syria, Lebanon and Palestine as the root of the Middle East crisis, the official SANA news agency reported.

    Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal made the remarks in a meeting with a European Parliament delegation headed by former European Commission chief and Luxembourg's ex-prime minister Jacques Santer, SANA said.

    "The continued Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights and of Palestinian and Lebanese territory, as well as foreign interference in the internal affairs of countries in the region, are the real causes of the Middle East crisis," Bilal was quoted as saying.

    He told the European lawmakers that Syria is working for regional peace "in such a way that Israel withdraws from Arab territory occupied" in 1967.

    Israel captured Syria's strategic Golan Heights plateau in 1967,where some 15,000 Israelis now live.

    Peace talks between the two sides collapsed in 2000 and Israel has called on Damascus to stop backing Palestinian militant groups and Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah as a precondition for the peace talks.

    Earlier on Sunday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad also met with the European parliamentary delegation and discussed with the latter a string of regional issues, including Iraq, Lebanon and Palestinian problems.