Paris meeting awaits? Olmert and Assad
Photo: AP, Amos Ben Gershom, GPO
Israel to propose Olmert-Assad talks, sources say
Israeli officials holding new round of indirect peace talks with Syrian counterparts in Turkey will propose leaders meet at Paris conference next month. 'The idea isn't necessarily to hold an hours-long conversation, just a face-to-face encounter that would, in itself, serve to take things forward,' source says
Israeli envoys holding a new round of indirect peace talks with Syrian counterparts in Turkey will propose the leaders of the two states meet at a conference in France next month, Israeli political sources said on Monday.
Israeli President
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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Syrian President Bashar Assad launched Turkish-mediated negotiations last month but there has been no word on prospects for a summit given the outstanding gaps between the sides' bedrock demands.
Both men are to attend a July 13 summit of a union of European and Mediterranean countries in Paris and Olmert, who sent aides to resume talks in Turkey on Saturday, has offered to meet Assad on the sidelines, Israeli political sources said.
"The idea isn't necessarily to hold an hours-long conversation, just a face-to-face encounter that would, in itself, serve to take things forward," said one source.
"This is one of the fresh ideas that is being raised in Turkey."
'Something concrete in hand'
According to the source, Olmert aides Yoram Turbowicz and Shalom Turjeman held indirect talks with Syrian counterparts on Sunday and were continuing on Monday. There was no immediate confirmation on this from Syrian or Turkish officials.
An Israeli political source said Olmert's delegation was not optimistic about the chances of Assad agreeing to meet the prime minister at this stage.
"The assessment in Israel is that he (Assad) would first need something concrete in hand," the source said.
The last round of indirect Israeli-Syrian talks, in mid-May, took place at an Istanbul hotel, with Turkish diplomats shuttling between the delegations' rooms. Israeli political sources had no immediate word on the venue of the current talks.
A diplomatic breakthrough could shore up Olmert at home, where he has been questioned by police in a corruption scandal that threatens to force him from office. Israeli officials said last week Israel would favor direct negotiations with Syria.
The last direct talks—between then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara—stalled in 2000 over Israel's reluctance to return the entire Golan Heights, a strategic plateau captured from Syria in a 1967 war.
Damascus is firm in its demand for all the Golan. Olmert has been hazy on whether his government would satisfy this, saying only that "difficult concessions" may be required for peace with Syria but that he has made no promises regarding the Golan.
Israel, echoing a long-running US demand, in turn wants Syria to scale back ties with the Jewish state's most virulent foes—Iran, Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hizbullah. Syrian officials have rejected this precondition.
