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Mofaz says Syria not responding to peace overtures
Deputy prime minister confirms government secretly approached enemy with peace overtures, Syria yet to respond
Speaking a day after an Israeli newspaper reported that Israel had told Syrian leaders it could give up the captured Golan Heights as part of a peace deal in which Syria would distance itself from Iran's virulently anti-Israel regime, Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz said a message was sent to Damascus, but he refused to divulge its contents.
“In light of the tensions in the current period, and considering the fact that in the past ... the Syrians sent messages that they want peace, I thought, and I still think today, that a secret channel is one of the channels for checking intentions and expectations,” Mofaz told Israel Radio.
“Such an approach, in a secret channel, was done,” he said. “This was said clearly by the prime minister's office. At this stage, there is no Syrian response, or any comment on this issue.”
Mofaz said it was important to recall that Israeli peace agreements with other Arab countries started with back-channel contacts.
He said, however, that at present the Syrians appear to be ambivalent about peace talks with Israel. “At the beginning, they speak about their desire to renew talks and the process, and after messages are sent, there is no answer,” he said. At this stage, he said, Israel is not sure what Syria's intentions are.
Syrian officials were not available for comment Saturday.
'Israel open to direct negotiations'
On Friday, the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently sent messages to Syrian President Bashar Assad through German and Turkish diplomats saying Israel was open to direct peace negotiations and was prepared to give up the strategic plateau it seized in the 1967 Mideast war.Olmert's office has not commented on the report, but an Israeli official said earlier in the week that Israel had been taking soundings on Syria's intentions through an undisclosed third party. The official agreed to discuss the matter only if not identified.
Israel and Syria have held several rounds of peace talks before. The last attempt broke down in 2000 over the scope of a proposed Israeli withdrawal from the Golan, from which Syrian artillery shelled Israelis before the 1967 war.
Assad recently urged Israel to return to the negotiating table, but has not publicly addressed Israel's demand that Damascus scale back its ties with Iran, its main ally in the region, and stop backing Lebanese and Palestinian groups sworn to destroy Israel.
Bush under pressure
Yediot said US President George W. Bush gave Olmert the green light for negotiations with Syria in an hour-long phone conversation last month.Mofaz said the two leaders plan further discussions during their scheduled meeting at the White House on 19 June.
In the past, Israeli and US officials have said privately that Washington was unwilling for Israel to deal with Syria, because of its ties to militants in Iraq and its meddling in Lebanon. But Bush is under pressure from allies, lawmakers, and advisers who think Washington should improve relations with Syria in an effort to isolate Iran.
Syria backed Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon during their war with Israel last summer, while the political leadership of the Palestinian militant group Hamas is headquartered in Damascus.
After the Lebanon war, Assad offered to open negotiations with Olmert, but Israel dismissed his overture as a tactic to ease his regime's isolation in the West. Last week, however, a senior Israeli official said Olmert was assessing prospects for new talks.
Returning the Golan, which Israel annexed in 1981, is not a popular idea in Israel. The heights dominate much of northern Israel, overlooking the country's largest source of drinking water, and are home to wineries and popular tourism sites.
