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Last update - 00:00 17/05/2009
Deputy FM: Assad just wants peace process, not peace
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies

Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon said Saturday that Syrian President Bashar Assad was only interested in conducting a peace process with Israel, instead of actually reaching a peace accord.

"The Syrian President fully realizes that the price of peace would be opening up to the West, which is a threat to the stability of his regime," said Ayalon during a lecture in Be'er Sheva.

"However, by engaging in a peace process, he believes he would be able to extricate Syria from the international isolation it's currently subject to."
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Ayalon's comments came after Assad said Friday he could not set a date for resuming indirect peace talks with Israel because there was no one on the other side with whom to negotiate.

"We cannot talk about a date [for resuming the talks] because we don't have a partner," Assad said during a joint press conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gul in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

But he added that "Syria is keen about peace as much as it is keen about the return of its occupied territories." Assad was referring to the Golan Heights, which Israel captured during the 1967 Six-Day War.

The Syrian leader also said Israel's three-week-long offensive against Hamas in Gaza had prevented the Turkish-mediated talks from moving to a direct phase. The negotiations were formally suspended during the campaign, which halted in January.

Assad's Turkish counterpart, meanwhile, urged Israel on Friday to work toward resuming the peace talks, and said Ankara was ready to continue its role as a mediator between the two parties.

"Israel has to show clearly it is a partner," said Gul.

"We have heard Syria say it is ready to resume the peace talks from the point where they stopped with the previous [Israeli] government. We in Turkey are also ready," Gul added, speaking through a translator.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a group of Russian journalists last week that Israel will not withdraw from the Golan because of its strategic military value.

Syrian officials have refrained from responding to Netanyahu's remarks. They also ignored statements last month by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman that Israel would talk peace with Syria only if it did not set preconditions or ultimatums.

Netanyahu was involved in U.S.-supervised talks between Syria and Israel during his previous term as prime minister in the 1990s.

The talks, which lasted almost 10 years, collapsed in 2000 when Assad's father, the late President Hafez Assad, refused an Israeli offer to withdraw from the Golan but keep several hundred meters on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.


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  • Lieberman: Syria is no partner for peace
  • Barak: Israel must reach settlement with Syria
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     | 
      1.   Better the Golan without peace than peace without the Golan 23:32  |  Stephen in New York 15/05/09
      2.   "No one on other side"Goodie Goodie Gumdrops;keep it that way! 23:38  |  glenna 15/05/09
      3.   look whos talkin 23:55  |  dave 15/05/09
      4.   The taking of the Golan in 1967 ... 00:07  |  Jasper 16/05/09
      5.   Give Back the Golan. 00:12  |  Razi 16/05/09
      6.   Stephen 00:15  |  J.R. 16/05/09
      7.   #1 Stephen.. a little bit of modesty, not chutzpah 01:09  |  PJ 16/05/09
      8.   #1 Stephen.. a little bit of modesty,.. II part 01:12  |  PJ 16/05/09
      9.   The few hundred meters were occupied by Syria 01:29  |  Eve 16/05/09
      10.   # 1 stephen 01:29  |  Axel 16/05/09
      11.   Assad`s foolish attitude 01:42  |  Shmendrik Nashishibi 16/05/09
      12.   Partner for peace? 01:47  |  philtlucre 16/05/09
      13.   #1 Shades of echos of Moshe Dayan. 02:10  |  Johnboy 16/05/09
      14.   syria 02:12  |  joe 16/05/09
      15.   Yep- keen to get the Iranians into position on top of the Golan 02:47  |  Alan SA 16/05/09
      16.   PJ-chill-I stand by my words and state my opinion. 02:59  |  Stephen in New York 16/05/09
      17.   Axel, Sinai agreement had something substantial to back it. 03:04  |  Stephen in New York 16/05/09
      18.   One main reason Bibi won the election is because... 03:07  |  dudu 16/05/09
      19.   Partners 03:10  |  ricardo levy 16/05/09
      20.   BTW PJ, Johnboy-source for supposed Dayan quote?? 03:11  |  Stephen in New York 16/05/09
      21.   Israel`s Three `Nos` (2nd try) 03:42  |  Binyamin 16/05/09
      22.   Turkey should start talks with Kurds - about 03:49  |  17 16/05/09
      23.   Turkey & Kurds 04:03  |  Yakov 16/05/09
      24.   Interesting Arab mentality - they sincerely believe 04:07  |  17 16/05/09
      25.   Right, Assad! Rory 16/05/09
      26.   Syria and Turkey 04:44  |  American 16/05/09
      27.   Beshir Assad is repeating the same old Gibrish 05:23  |  Wedi Mendefera 16/05/09
      28.   Johnboy, it is "security,security,security", not "land,land,land" 05:42  |  Eve 16/05/09
      29.   Binyamin, it is a `no` to a 4 state solution 05:49  |  Eve 16/05/09
      30.   The guy understands the situation 06:47  |  Mark Lincoln 16/05/09
      31.   SNY, where are the "fake" quotations? 07:16  |  BBSNews 16/05/09
      32.   #29. Too much to the left makes one dizzy 07:35  |  Giora 16/05/09
      33.   BSNews- I love your jihadi under the bed thing 08:04  |  Stephen in New York 16/05/09
      34.   Johnboy #13 - "Israel`s greed for land, land, land, land" Really? 10:31  |  S 16/05/09
      35.   ooah ooah come on kitty dig the boy from NY city 10:36  |  ori ginale 16/05/09
      36.   israel a cake in the eyes of arab countries 10:43  |  dave 16/05/09
      37.   binyamin 10:53  |  dave 16/05/09
      38.   #34, S 11:09  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 16/05/09
      39.   PARTNER 14:26  |  OZ 16/05/09
      40.   # 22 14:29  |  Doruk 16/05/09
      41.   ASSAD 14:30  |  PATRIOT 16/05/09
      42.   "Assad: no partner in Israel..." not entirely true... 14:51  |  Esther 16/05/09
      43.   No partner for peace in *ISRAEL*. !!! 15:10  |  Roo 16/05/09
      44.   S to Johnboy #34 15:11  |  Roo 16/05/09
      45.   1967 war 15:27  |  wondering 16/05/09
      46.   Land first or peace first; only one answer. 15:53  |  Stephen L 16/05/09
      47.   Accept The 6/4/67 Lines As The Border? 15:57  |  Jeff Northridge 16/05/09
      48.   Likewise from the other side, so this is great news! 16:21  |  Butch 16/05/09
      49.   Golan Heights is strategic position lost by Syrians 16:53  |  17 16/05/09
      50.   #31 BSnews - "Fake Quoatations" 17:16  |  *BEN JABO 16/05/09
      51.   SNY: jihadi cells in *every* city in the West... 17:17  |  BBSNews 16/05/09
      52.   Illusion of a peace process 17:18  |  Bazmann 16/05/09
      53.   #30 Lincoln ignores history, which repeats itself 17:22  |  *BEN JABO 16/05/09
      54.   Roo #40 18:15  |  S 16/05/09
      55.   Blatant hypocrisy by the land pirate toward his victim! 18:49  |  Ivar 16/05/09
      56.   Roo # 40 Then Dayan Erred 19:12  |  Jeff Northridge 16/05/09
      57.   Assad only wants the Golan , Does not want Peace 19:29  |  Shepherd 16/05/09
      58.   I# 55 var - a glass of cold water might help 20:19  |  17 16/05/09
      59.   Enough from you, OK,, BSNews? 21:03  |  Stephen in New York 16/05/09
      60.   BBSNews_ Jihadists Under Every Bed 21:32  |  Eli 16/05/09
      61.   "Assad just wants peace process" 22:34  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 16/05/09
      62.   johnboy et al 23:00  |  elimelech 16/05/09
      63.   Jeff Northridge #56 underwhelming 23:36  |  Roo 16/05/09
      64.   #42 Ester, Guess what Livni has no clout left 23:37  |  The Warrior 16/05/09
      65.   Cipora # 61 Sounds just like Netanyahu doesn*t it? 23:46  |  American in NY 16/05/09
      66.   Jeff Northridge #56 underwhelming 00:21  |  Roo 17/05/09
      67.   Jeff Northridge #56 underwhelming 01:17  |  Roo 17/05/09
      68.   #34 Why, yes, really, S 02:24  |  Johnboy 17/05/09
      69.   #56 Jeff knows more about this that Dayan did 02:34  |  Johnboy 17/05/09
      70.   #24 The arrogance of ignorance, Eve 02:41  |  Johnboy 17/05/09
      71.   #60..Eli....excellent response,however ... 02:47  |  Malone 17/05/09
      72.   bbsn 03:09  |  oz 17/05/09
      73.   golan 03:16  |  kenereti 17/05/09
      74.   #62 elimelech 03:30  |  Johnboy 17/05/09
      75.   #55 Ivar - wrong again 05:40  |  *BEN JABO 17/05/09
      76.   #4 are you talking the same "golan" as everyone else, jasper?(2nd 06:07  |  eric 17/05/09
      77.   assad faces the same problem as the palestinians...(2nd try) 06:08  |  eric 17/05/09
      78.   # 61 your statement lacks substance, cipora 06:27  |  eric 17/05/09
      79.   Syria is worried.. very worried .. 06:43  |  Akram Zekaria 17/05/09
      80.   Johnboy #63 Are you pretending you answered my questions? 08:02  |  S 17/05/09
      81.   #75 Oh, pardon me, my mistake, S 12:54  |  Johnboy 17/05/09
      82.   Haha... 18:32  |  rigma 17/05/09
      83.   Not! 18:35  |  rigma 17/05/09
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