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Israel Held Secret Talks With Syria
Israel had secret contacts with Syria several months ago - well before recent Syrian overtures - but they broke down after word of the meetings leaked out, Israelâs foreign minister said Sunday.
Hmmm, seems Baby Doc needs the Israelis more than they need him. Syrian President Bashar Assad called last month for a resumption of official talks, but Israel leaders are split over whether to take up his offer. Sharon said Sunday that Israel would readily restart negotiations with Syria, once Syria stopped aiding and harboring terrorist groups that continue to attack Israel. The main Palestinian militant groups, as well as the Lebanese group Hezbollah, all operate on Syrian territory. "Israel is ready and willing to negotiate once Syria, of course, stops helping terror," he told a news conference for foreign journalists. "And we donât believe that crap about the camps being empty, either!" While peace efforts with the Palestinians remain stalled, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and some other officials have been publicly pushing the government to accept Syriaâs offer to restart talks. Shalom said Sunday that Israel had secret meetings seven or eight months ago with people "very close" to Assad. "Unfortunately, after two meetings that the Israeli partners had with their Syrian colleagues, it leaked out. And while it was exposed, of course the Syrians didnât continue to negotiate through this track," he said. "We donât want to be killed!" In Damascus, an official with the information ministry denied there had been any secret contacts. The official said Syriaâs policy remains linked to international initiatives that call on Israel to withdraw from all occupied territories and blamed Israel for the current stalemate. "We know nothing!" Mahdi Dakhlalah, editor-in-chief of the Al-Baath newspaper of the ruling Baath party said Syria has repeatedly insisted it would not "do anything under the table. Rather, it puts all its papers on the table. There is no need (for Syria) to hold secret contacts at all." Nope, nope, wudnât us, nope. Syria and Israel were close to a peace agreement in 2000, with Israel offering to return nearly all of the Golan Heights. But the two sides were unable to finalize the deal. Typical Arab negotiation: having been offered 95% of what it wanted, it considered the offer to be a sign of weakness and spurned it, figured they could get more. Havenât they yet learned that Westerners (e.g., Israelis) donât work that way? Back channel talks with other unidentified Arab countries are continuing, Shalom added. His comments followed reports that Israel had held secret meetings with Libya. "I donât see how we can continue to deal or to contact or to negotiate with our Arab neighbors while they are not sure that these contacts wonât remain in secret," Shalom said. So insist that they talk in public. When they get desparate enough they will. In the meantime build the security fence. Posted by: Steve White 2004-01-12 |
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