Syria is being "Wolfowitzed."
Khaddam: Syria Wants to Hold Peace Talks
The Guardian
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Syria has sent messages to bitter foe Israel via Turkey offering to restart stalled peace talks between the two countries, Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam said Wednesday.
The messages carried by Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul expressed ``Syria's readiness to resume peace talks from where they broke off'' in January 2000, Khaddam said.
They also said that Syria was ``still committed to the peace process in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions.''
Khaddam spoke to reporters in Damascus following a meeting with an Iraqi delegation of peasants.
Syria wants talks to resume from where they broke off in 2000, when the previous Israeli government accepted a withdrawal from almost all the Golan Heights, seized by Israel in 1967. But Israeli Prime Minister Sharon insists the negotiations should begin from scratch.
Raanan Gissin, senior aide to Sharon, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he did not know of any message that had been passed to Israel from Syria.
He said that Israel is prepared to negotiate with Syria without preconditions, ``and that does not mean starting where the talks left off.'' He said that first, Syria must pass ``the test of actions,'' cutting off support for Hezbollah and other terrorist groups.
In the past, Israeli officials have not rebuffed the Syrian overtures, but the Sharon government has never indicated it would return all of the captured Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for peace, as offered by a previous, moderate Israeli government before talks broke down.
Gul, in an interview with the London-based Arabic-language al-Hayat newspaper published Wednesday, said Turkey had received letters and documents from the Syrian side and delivered them to Israel and the United States during his recent visit to Washington. He reiterated Turkey's willingness to help revive Syrian-Israeli peace talks.
Turkey, which enjoys warm relations with Israel, recently said it was also willing to act as an intermediary between Israel and Syria in a bid to revive the countries' peace negotiations.
Turkey has also sought recently to improve relations with its neighbor Syria. In January, Syrian President Bashar Assad made the first visit ever by a Syrian head of state to Turkey.
Assad told The New York Times in November that he wants to renew peace talks with Israel, and he has repeated the offer several times. |
