By ELI LAKEAt the moment America has disclosed to the world Israel's success in ending a North Korea-aided nuclear weapons project in the Syrian desert, the Syrians are saying Prime Minister Olmert will relinquish the Golan Heights.
The Israelis are offering no public comment. But Syria's expatriates minister, Buthaina Shaaban, told Al-Jazeera that the Israeli premier had instructed Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to deliver the message. "Olmert is ready for peace with Syria on the grounds of the return of the Golan Heights in full to Syria," she told the Arab satellite network.
The interview aired before the White House instructed the intelligence community to brief Congress and journalists on the details of Syria's undeclared nuclear weapons program. The briefing included a videotape of North Korean technicians building the same kind of lab reactor as the one found in North Korea's Yongbyon facility, according to congressional sources and the Washington Post.
The public disclosure of the North Korea-Syria program changes the calculus for the president's policies toward both Damascus and Pyongyang. Damascus will likely face a nuclear audit from the International Atomic Energy Agency and may be raising the Golan issue and the prospect of peace in hopes of distracting from its nuclear program. North Korea has agreed to, but has yet to deliver, a full declaration of its nuclear weapons program.
The Republican presumptive nominee for president, Senator McCain, said the disclosure of the activity, long suspected since Israeli aircraft destroyed the Syrian reactor building on September 6, should lead to the "widest possible condemnation by the international community." He attacked Senator Obama for the Democratic presidential candidate's promise to meet directly with Kim Jong Il without preconditions...
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