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Syrian President Bashar Assad: Ehud Olmert is willing to give up the Golan. (AP)
Last update - 21:43 24/04/2008
Ex-envoy Indyk: Syria won't talk to Israel unless U.S. present
By Yoav Stern and Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondents and News Agencies
Tags: U.S., Golan Heights, Israel 

A former U.S. envoy and Mideast negotiator called Thursday for peace talks in which Israel would yield the Golan Heights to Syria in return for a peace treaty and withdrawal of support for Hezbollah militants, but said Syria was not likely to negotiate with Israel without American presence.

Martin Indyk, former ambassador to Israel, told the House Mideast subcommittee that Israel had enlisted Turkey to help register its interest in peace negotiations to Syria.

But Indyk, who was a U.S. negotiator during former President Bill Clinton's efforts in 2000 to mediate an agreement, said, "Syria will not sit down with Israel without the United States in the room."
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Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Office on Thursday said that Israel was genuinely interested in restarting talks with Syria.

Earlier Thursday, Syrian President Bashar Assad confirmed that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had offered an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights in return for full peace with its Arab neighbor.

Israel would not comment on the withdrawal offer, but did say it was interested in negotiating with Damascus.

"We are interested in peace with Syria. We know what the Syrians expect from negotiations and the Syrians knows what Israel wants from the negotiations," said Mark Regev, a spokesman of Olmert.

Israel seized the plateau, seen as a vital military asset, during the 1967 Six-Day War. Talks between Israel and Syria on the issue were last held in 2000, but broke down over the extent of an Israeli pullback at the Sea of Galilee.

Speaking in an interview published Thursday in the Qatari newspaper Al-Watan, Assad said that the message had been passed from Israel to Syria via Turkey, often seen as a mediator between the two enemy states.

Assad said that intensive contacts between Israel and Syria began following the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006. He said that the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan "announced Israel's readiness to withdraw from the Golan Heights in return for peace with Syria. Turkey entered the picture a year ago, in April 2007 to be precise. Olmert stressed to the Turkish prime minister his readiness to return the Golan."

The Syrian leader said Erdogan had delivered Olmert's message a week ago. "After that," Assad said, "we heard Olmert's statement that 'We know what Syria wants and it knows what we want'."

Olmert made the comment in an interview to Haaretz to mark the Passover holiday.

The Syrian media had previously reported that Erdogan phoned Assad and told him that Olmert was willing to give up the Golan.

Erdogan is expected to arrive in Damascus over the weekend for the opening of a Turkish-Syrian business forum, and will reportedly be meeting with Assad to discuss the talks, among other issues.

Acknowledging talks through a third party, Assad told a closed meeting of the ruling Baath party on Sunday that an Israeli commitment to withdraw fully from the Golan had to be a basis for talks, and any direct negotiations would be public.

Iran warns Syria against ties with U.S., Israel

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday warned Syria against becoming closer with Israel and the United States and urged Islamic nations to stand up against Western 'conspiracies and wars.'

Following the Iranian leader's talks Thursday with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, Ahmadinejad's office issued a statement calling on Middle Eastern nations to "stand on guard in the face of the conspiracies and civil wars our enemies our planning and prepare to cause them ro fail."

Ahmadinejad warned that the United States was planning to involve itself in Middle Eastern regional matters, but said its policies on Iran and Syria were failing.

U.S. role 'vital'

Following contacts between Israel and Syria, officials say significant U.S. involvement will probably be necessary for negotiations to move ahead, and that Syria is still demanding such involvement.

Both Israeli and foreign experts on Syria told Haaretz on Wednesday that a change in the American position was not on the horizon, and that no details on the Israeli position had been included in Wednesday's Syrian media reports on Israel's willingness to withdraw from the Golan Heights.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Wednesday that if Israel were serious about making peace with Syria and withdrawing from the Golan, there was nothing to prevent the renewal of negotiations. But he added that Syria was not prepared to hold talks with Israel that would harm the Palestinian negotiating track.

Speaking at a news conference in Tehran with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki, Moallem said the Syrian position was that Israel had to withdraw to the lines of June 4, 1967, not the international boundary. His statements were carried by the official Syrian news agency SANA.

In response to reports that Olmert had agreed to withdraw from the Golan, the head of the Knesset House Committee, MK David Tal, said he hopes to quickly pass a bill requiring an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan to be dependent on a national referendum.

Tal said an evacuation of the Golan would draw Hezbollah to the region. The chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Likud MK Yuval Steinitz, said "Olmert's willingness to come down from the Golan is an expression of unprecedented political and security anarchy." He said Israel could not protect itself and its water sources without the Golan.

MK Arieh Eldad (National Union-National Religious Party) called on opposition leader and Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately announce "that he would not be obligated to any suicidal concession by Olmert."

In contrast, MK Yossi Beilin (Meretz) called on Olmert "to take advantage of the opportunity and conduct quick and intensive negotiations with the Syrians." Such talks would "lead to a dramatic change in [Syria's] relationship with extremist elements in the area," Beilin said.

When asked about Wednesday's reports, Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said: "I have nothing to add beyond what the prime minister said on Friday in his interviews with the Israeli press about his desire for peace with Syria."

Related articles:
  • Golan leaders to Turkey: Push Syria talks without pricing Golan
  • Olmert: Talks with Syria worth serious consideration
  • Syria says it's not seeking military solution with Israel
  • Israel, Syria message exchange ends in failure
  • Syrian state-run newspaper: Non-comprehensive peace won't last
  • Minister Majadele: Israel is ready to return Golan for peace
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      1.   Insanity 05:48  |  Rabbi Yakov Lazaros 24/04/08
      2.   Golan Under Syrian Rule - Reality For Druze 06:56  |  Phil 24/04/08
      3.   The deconstruction of Imperial Israel begins 07:52  |  Natallie Durson 24/04/08
      4.   Iran and its servile ally Syria. 08:20  |  Jean Van Daem 24/04/08
      5.   To Rabbi Lazaros 08:51  |  Karl 24/04/08
      6.   Decency before Peace 12:22  |  DDDDDDD 24/04/08
      7.   Dangerous, because Olmert doesn`t have a mandate to do it. 13:04  |  redmike 24/04/08
      8.   Sooner or later israel will have to give up its dream of Greater 13:25  |  lakshmi 24/04/08
      9.   Golan is Syrian! 13:26  |  Sayid- SyrianArab 24/04/08
      10.   Golan 13:28  |  Ricardo Levy 24/04/08
      11.   to #3 13:33  |  Ricardo Levy 24/04/08
      12.   The pressure from Iranian weapons is playing its effect 13:37  |  Aounist 24/04/08
      13.   Karl 13:42  |  Michael 24/04/08
      14.   You can`t give it to Syria. 13:44  |  Fred McCann 24/04/08
      15.   To #6: DDDDDD Get your facts right!! 13:46  |  An Arab Neighbor 24/04/08
      16.   Unlike Syria`s dictator, Olmert can`t do anything 13:52  |  David Teich 24/04/08
      17.   GOLAN WAS JEWISH 13:59  |  Iskander 24/04/08
      18.   Assad is spilling the beans on Olmert 14:26  |  Brod 24/04/08
      19.   Walid Moallem is obviously no fool..... 14:29  |  Johnboy 24/04/08
      20.   Olmert is a lame duck. 14:34  |  Vitaly 24/04/08
      21.   #16 Very graceous of you, David.... 14:34  |  Johnboy 24/04/08
      22.   We`ll have something to say about it 14:43  |  עם ישראל 24/04/08
      23.   re 17, you dont now anything about history 14:44  |  Sayid- SyrianArab 24/04/08
      24.   Go on cave into these NUTTERS again 14:51  |  mikey 24/04/08
      25.   golan is part of israel from dez 81and not traitor can offer it 14:53  |  vladimir 24/04/08
      26.   Make peace with a dictatorship? 15:21  |  Sam 24/04/08
      27.   Peace is possible 15:38  |  Abu Yusuf 24/04/08
      28.   To # 9 you also must know why it was taken 15:44  |  Yosi 24/04/08
      29.   Assad is spilling the beans on Olmert 16:02  |  Brod 24/04/08
      30.   #11 Ricardo: The difference is Native Americans are US Citizens 16:29  |  Tupac 24/04/08
      31.   Abu: 360 will put you at the same place! 16:30  |  Ruy 24/04/08
      32.   The devil is in the details: 16:32  |  Eldad 24/04/08
      33.   To PHIL # 2 - Olmert gives Golan for `Peace` 16:39  |  Dagma 24/04/08
      34.   Hey give up also rest of it to pacify Hamas 16:43  |  Boris 24/04/08
      35.   Golan to Syria, Hermon to Iran, Olmert to mental institution 16:46  |  Sal 24/04/08
      36.   #15 Arab Neighbor Is Right but... 16:47  |  dyinglikeflies 24/04/08
      37.   TO # 1. I think this is Sanity. Please read what i think 16:48  |  Simon Mohammed 24/04/08
      38.   To Abu Yusuf #37 16:58  |  Vitaly 24/04/08
      39.   Olmert: it is not democratic to make promises past the Israelis! 17:01  |  AliciaYasmeen 24/04/08
      40.   Keep the Golan..... Give Up Olmert Instead 17:02  |  YSL 24/04/08
      41.   Olmert: have the Israelis given you the mandate to cede Golan? 17:03  |  AliciaYasmeen 24/04/08
      42.   Olmert: show some respect for the Israeli-people, please! 17:07  |  AliciaYasmeen 24/04/08
      43.   OLMERT MAKING A NUISANCE OF HIMSELF 17:13  |  Natasha 24/04/08
      44.   Rabbi Yakov Lazaros: Vital to security? 17:16  |  Rabbi Low 24/04/08
      45.   Yosi - Israel has always attempted a military solution 17:18  |  MAN 24/04/08
      46.   Olmert=Coward! 17:29  |  Robert/Montreal 24/04/08
      47.   NO, SYRIA ...THIS CANT BE THAT EASY. WHAT IS THE TRAP FOR SYRIA 17:31  |  Atilla Karagözoğlu 24/04/08
      48.   With that warning it speaks for its self, Also Olmert is a idiot 17:31  |  Dish It Out 24/04/08
      49.   #3 Natalie the expert speaks (nothing like usual) 17:33  |  Robert/Montreal 24/04/08
      50.   GOLAN ALREADY SYRIAN ... NO NEED TO SELL THE ISLAMIC UNITY 17:34  |  ATİLLA KARAGÖZOĞLU 24/04/08
      51.   FREE GAZA IS MUCH BETTER OFFER INSTEAD GOLAN 17:35  |  BE WISE SYRIA 24/04/08
      52.   HIS EYES JUST LIKE A CAT. BYE BYE IRAN :) 17:37  |  I NEVER TRUST CATS 24/04/08
      53.   AHMEDINEJAD : SYRIA SOLD US. IN FACT WE NEVER TRUSTED HER. 17:37  |  ATİLLA KARAGÖZOĞLU 24/04/08
      54.   21: It`s important to be gracious 17:39  |  David Teich 24/04/08
      55.   8: Yet lakshmi won`t give up the Caliphate 17:42  |  David Teich 24/04/08
      56.   ISRAEL TAKING THE ISLAM POWER AS TOO STUPID :) 17:42  |  ATİLLA KARAGÖZOĞLU 24/04/08
      57.   #14- Fred it is not Israel it is Olmert! 17:42  |  Robert/Montreal 24/04/08
      58.   19: JB`s own weird faith 17:45  |  David Teich 24/04/08
      59.   Jonboy whalid is no fool 17:45  |  Robert/Montreal 24/04/08
      60.   27: Yusuf`s problem with geometry 17:47  |  David Teich 24/04/08
      61.   Gracious of David Per Jonboy 17:48  |  Robert/Montreal 24/04/08
      62.   עם ישראלAm Israel Chai ! 17:50  |  Robert/Montreal 24/04/08
      63.   30: Tupac, rapped on the head too many times 17:51  |  David Teich 24/04/08
      64.   #23 Israel lays ancient Jewish claim to Golan 17:54  |  Robert/Montreal 24/04/08
      65.   Toi lakshmi 17:57  |  Oleg 24/04/08
      66.   Tupac do some investigating there are Israeli arabs 17:58  |  Robert/Montreal 24/04/08
      67.   To KARL # 5 - The Golan was not Always Syrian..... 18:01  |  Dagma 24/04/08<