Syria - Israel Peace Talks

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پرز: 'اسرائيل به سوريه خوش آمد می گويد'


شيمون پرز معاون نخست وزير اسرائيل گفته است که کشورش از سفر بشار اسد به بيت المقدس برای انجام مذاکرات صلح استقبال می کند.

آقای پرز گفته است که اطمينان دارد کشورش برای انجام گفتگوهای مستقيم با سوريه آمادگی دارد.

آقای اسد روز دوشنبه گفته بود که آماده است با اسرائيل راجع به يافتن راه حل صلح آميز برای بحران خاورميانه گفتگو کند.

اما اهود اولمرت نخست وزير اسرائيل اظهارات آقای پرز را تائيد نکرده است. سخنگوی او گفت که دعوت از رئيس جمهور سوريه از طرف آقای اولمرت صورت نگرفته است.

آقای پرز در مصاحبه ای تلويزيونی با اشاره به گام تاريخی انور السادات در سال 1978 گفت: "چرا اسد مثل سادات به اينجا نمی آيد؟"

مذاکرات صلح ميان سوريه و اسرائيل شش سال پيش قطع شد. در آن زمان سوريه از اسرائيل درخواست کرده بود که بلندی های گولان را که اسرائيل از سال 1967 اشغال کرده است، به سوريه برگرداند.

آقای اسد در گفتگوی اخير خود با بی بی سی گفته است که سوريه و اسرائيل می توانند با حفظ مناسبات همجواری در کنار هم زندگی کنند.

به عقيده جان سيمپسون گزارشگر بی بی سی، سوريه ديگر از حمله اسرائيل واهمه ای ندارد، زيرا اين کشور نتوانست بر حزب الله لبنان که از جانب سوريه حمايت می شود، فايق آيد.

دولت کنونی ايالات متحده دولت سوريه را جزو کشورهايی خوانده است که "محور شرارت" خوانده می شوند.

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Syria welcome in Israel - Peres

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria was welcome to come to Jerusalem for peace talks, Israel's deputy prime minister, Shimon Peres, has said.

"If he says 'I want a meeting', I am sure Israel will say 'Very well, let us meet and talk'", Mr Peres said.

President Assad said on Monday that Syria would be prepared to hold talks.

But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert distanced himself from Mr Peres's remarks. The invitation, his spokesman said, was not issued on his behalf.

In his television interview, Mr Peres, referring to Egypt's historic peace treaty with Israel in 1978, said: "Why can't Assad do what others have done? Sadat came here."

'Axis of evil'

Peace talks between Syria and Israel broke down six years ago, after Syria demanded that Israel hand over the Golan Heights, which it has occupied since the 1967 war.

On Monday President Assad acknowledged Syria and Israel could live side-by-side in peace accepting each other's existence.

The BBCs John Simpson said Syria no longer feared an Israeli attack because Israel failed to destroy Hezbollah, which Syria supports, during its attacks on Lebanon this summer.

The current US administration has said Syria is a member of what it has called an axis of evil.

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Olmert: Syria peace overtures are a ploy


By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM - Israel has brushed off the Syrian president‘s recent calls to restart peace talks as a ploy by Bashar Assad to deflect international pressure from his increasingly isolated regime. But some in Israel say that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may be making a major mistake in ignoring even a slim chance to pursue peace with one of his country‘s most implacable enemies.

"Olmert could have gone down in history as Menachem Begin, who gave Sinai back to Egypt," journalist Tom Segev wrote in the Haaretz daily Tuesday. "Instead, he is reacting to Syria ‘s offers of peace with contempt, loathing and threats."

Assad has sporadically called for new talks, but his appeals grew more intense following this summer‘s war between Israel and Lebanon‘s Hezbollah guerrillas, which Syria backed. The fighting increased international criticism of Assad‘s regime, already hit by accusations it was involved in the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and was letting militants use Syria as a transit point into neighboring Iraq .

Olmert has rejected talks with Syria, accusing it of harboring terrorists and saying he will not relinquish the Golan.

Syria‘s support for Hezbollah and its refusal to force top Palestinian militants to close their offices in Damascus has also angered Israel.

"Israel would love to start peace talks with a Syrian government that doesn‘t arm Hezbollah, that doesn‘t have a foreign minister who sides with Hezbollah, with a government that doesn‘t promote and provide a sanctuary for the head terrorists of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and others," she said.

"He is isolated. He is beleaguered. He is controversial, internationally speaking. He hopes to reap dividends from adopting a peaceful posture," said Itamar Rabinovich, Israel‘s former chief negotiator with Syria.

But Olmert has less incentive to head into negotiations. He is already under fire for his government‘s conduct of the Lebanon war, and talks with Syria would fan the flames, adding the media-savvy Israelis living in the Golan to his list of critics.

Gilad Sher, a former Israeli peace negotiator, said Syria‘s continuing support of terrorism should not close off diplomatic channels to solving the conflict.

"After all, one can always say, ‘no,‘" he wrote.

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اكثر اسرائيلي*ها خواستار مذاكره با سوريه براي پيشگيري از جنگي ديگر هستند


نتايج يك نظرسنجي نشان داد بيش از نيمي از اسرائيلي*ها خواستار مذاكره با سوريه هستند و نگران آن هستند كه در صورت عدم مذاكره جنگي ديگر در منطقه شروع شود.



به نقل از روزنامه صهيونيستي "هاآرتص"، 57 درصد از پرسش شوندگان در اين نظرسنجي از مذاكره با سوريه حمايت كردند اما 54 درصد از آنها گفتند با عقب نشيني نيروهاي صهيونيست از بلندي*هاي جولان موافق نيستند. 59 درصد نيز از وقوع جنگي ديگر در شمال سرزمين هاي اشغالي در صورت عدم مذاكره با سوريه ابراز نگراني كردند.
علاوه بر اين، 70 درصد شركت كنندگان در اين نظرسنجي دولت صهيونيستي را متهم كردند كه نمي تواند همزمان مذاكره با سوريه و فلسطينيان را پيش ببرد. 58 درصد نيز ترجيح مي دهند اين رژيم پيش از مذاكره با سوريه، با فلسطينيان وارد مذاكرات صلح شود.
بشار اسد، رئيس جمهور سوريه بارها خواستار مذاكره با رژيم صهيونيستي شده است اما همزمان خاطرنشان كرده كه در صورت به نتيجه نرسيدن مذاكرات، سوريه ممكن است به اقدام نظامي متوسل شود. سوريه خواستار پس گرفتن بلندي*هاي جولان است كه از سال 1967 تحت اشغال رژيم صهيونيستي قرار دارد.
ايهود اولمرت، نخست وزير اسرائيل با مذاكره مخالفت كرده و مي گويد سوريه بايد پيش از آغاز مذاكرات به حمايت خود از سازمان هاي مقاومت فلسطيني خاتمه دهد.

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اولمرت: احتمال گفت*وگوهاي صلح با سوريه در آينده نزديك وجود ندارد


نخست وزير رژيم صهيونيستي گفت احتمال گفت*وگوهاي صلح با سوريه، همانطور كه در گزارش آمريكايي گروه مطالعات عراق پيشنهاد شده، در آينده نزديك وجود ندارد.


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به نقل از خبرگزاري فرانسه، ايهود اولمرت امروز در جمع خبرنگاران ادعا كرد: «اين حقيقت كه سوريه براي بي*ثباتي دولت در لبنان تلاش مي*كند و از حماس حمايت مي*كند ثابت مي*كند بخت كمي براي تلاش براي مذاكرات با اين كشور در آينده نزديك وجود دارد.»

وي از اظهار نظر درباره اينكه آيا وي مايل به بازگرداندن بلنديهاي راهبردي جولان به دمشق در هرگونه توافق صلح است يا خير، خودداري كرد.

گروه مطالعات عراق در گزارشي كه روز گذشته به جرج بوش، رئيس جمهوري آمريكا داده شد، اعلام كرد حل درگيري اسرائيل و اعراب براي منافع منطقه*اي واشنگتن اهميت دارد.

در ادامه اين گزارش آمده است: «اين بايد شامل مذاكرات مستقيم با و بين اسرائيل، لبنان، فلسطينيان - كساني كه موجوديت اسرائيل را پذيرفته*اند- و سوريه شود.»

در اين گزارش همچنين پيشنهاد شده است اسرائيل بايد بلنديهاي جولان را به عنوان بخشي از توافق صلح دوجانبه با دمشق بازگرداند كه اين مسئله منجر به توقف حمايت اين كشور از جنبش*هاي فلسطيني و حزب*الله لبنان مي*شود.

اولمرت گفت: «تا زماني كه من به عنوان نخست وزير خدمت مي*كنم*، بلنديهاي جولان در دستان ما خواهد بود زيرا اين بخشي جدانشدني از اسرائيل است.»

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سوئيس ميانجي*گري در مذاكرات سري سوريه و اسرائيل را تاييد كرد


دولت سوئيس تاييد كرد اين كشور در مذاكرات سري سوريه و اسرائيل كه دو طرف آن را رد كرده بودند، نقش ميانجي* داشته است.



به نقل از روزنامه صهيونيستي هاآرتص، ميشلين كالمي ري، وزير امورخارجه سابق و رئيس جمهور كنوني دولت فدرال سوئيس تاييد كرد: «سوئيس در مقام ميانجي در مذاكرات غيررسمي ميان نمايندگان سوريه و اسرائيل كه اولين بار توسط روزنامه اسرائيلي هاآرتص افشا شد، شركت داشته است.»

بر اساس اين گزارش در اين مذاكرات همچنين توافق شده بود در صورت آغاز مذاكرات صلح،* دولت سوريه با بازگرداندن جسد الي كوهن، جاسوس اسرائيلي اعدام شده در دمشق به خانواده*اش موافقت خواهد كرد.

به نوشته اين روزنامه آريل شارون،* نخست وزير سابق اسرائيل پيش از بيماري به خانواده وي اعلام كرده بود در صورت توافق در مذاكرات،* اين اولين اقدام اعتمادساز توسط سوريه خواهد بود.

سيلوان شالوم، وزير امورخارجه سابق اسرائيل نيز هفته گذشته تاييد كرده بود در زمان خدمت در اين وزارت از اين مذاكرات سري آگاه بوده است.

روزنامه هاآرتص پيش از اين گزارش داده بود مذاكرات ميان اسرائيل و سوريه با ميانجي*گري نيكولاس لانگ، مسئول دفتر خاورميانه در وزارت امورخارجه سوئيس انجام شده است. لانگ همان كسي است كه بنيانگذار توافق ژنو بوده و به عنوان مشاور عالي كنسولگري سوئيس در بيت المقدس خدمت كرده است.

لانگ هفته گذشته به بيت المقدس سفر كرده و پس از آن نيز براي ديدار با مقامات عالي رتبه، از جمله فاروق الشرع، معاون رئيس جمهور سوريه و وليد معلم،* وزير امورخارجه اين كشور به دمشق سفر كرده بود.

وزير امورخارجه سوئيس روز گذشته در يك كنفرانس خبري با تاييد اخبار ديدارهاي سري گفت: «سوئيس در مذاكرات گزارش شده در مطبوعات نقش ميانجي داشته است.»

وي همچنين تاييد كرد فرد ميانجي اكنون در سوريه است.

كالمي*ري همچنين اعلام كرد وي در جريان نشست سازمان اقتصاد جهاني در داووس سوئيس با زيپي ليوني،* وزير امورخارجه اسرائيل و محمود عباس،* رئيس تشكيلات خودگردان ديدار خواهد كرد.

وي در اولين كنفرانس خبري خود در مقام رئيس جمهور بدون اشاره به جزئيات يا نتايج اين مذاكرات تنها اعلام كرد كشورش همچنان سياست بي*طرفي پيش گرفته و جانب فلسطين را نخواهد گرفت.

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يديعوت آحارونوت: اولمرت پيام مصالحه به اسد فرستاده است


گزارش يكي از روزنامه*هاي صهيونيستي از ارسال پيام سري "ايهود اولمرت" نخست*وزير اين رژيم به سوريه براي ازسرگيري مذاكرات صلح حكايت دارد.



يديعوت آحارونوت با اعلام اين خبر نوشت كه اين اقدام اولمرت با هماهنگي و چراغ سبز جرج بوش، رئيس جمهوري آمريكا صورت گرفته است.

اين روزنامه نوشت: «اولمرت در پيام*هاي سري به اطلاع بشار اسد، رئيس جمهوري سوريه رسانده است كه ارزش مصالحه با سوريه را مي*داند و تمايل دارد بهاي آن را پرداخت كند.»

يديعوت افزود: «اولمرت در مكالمه تلفني يك ساعته خود در 24 آوريل سال جاري ميلادي با جرج بوش به وي اعلام كرد مي*خواهد امكان ازسرگيري مذاكرات صلح با سوريه را در نظر گيرد و به نظر مي*رسد بوش از وي خواسته اين كار را در پيش* گيرد.»

بنا بر اين گزارش، پيام*هاي سري اولمرت به اسد از طريق كشورهايي چون تركيه و آلمان كه با هر دو طرف مورد مناقشه رابطه دارند، ارسال شده است.

در يكي از اين پيام*ها كه به نوشته اين روزنامه از سوي اولمرت به اسد ارسال شده، آمده است: «من براي ايجاد صلح ميان خودمان با شما [اسد] شريك هستم. من مي*دانم كه توافق صلح با سوريه به معني بازگرداندن بلندي*هاي جولان به سوريه است. من از جانب خودم حاضرم بخاطر برقراري صلح ميان ما درباره تحقق اين امر تعهد دهم.»

بنا به نوشته آحارونوت، اولمرت در عوض بازگرداندن بلندي*هاي جولان از سوريه خواسته تا مشاركت و همكاري با ايران، حزب*الله لبنان و سازمان*هاي فلسطيني را كنار گذارد

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Israel offers Syria land for peace


ISRAELI Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has sent secret messages to Syria offering to discuss the return of the Golan Heights in return for a comprehensive peace agreement, an Israeli newspaper has claimed.

Citing "a senior political source", the mass daily Yedioth Ahronot reported that Mr Olmert had conveyed his offer to President Bashar al-Assad via "the leaders of Germany and Turkey" and their intelligence services, after discussing the offer with US President George Bush several weeks ago.

In return for withdrawing from the strategic highlands, Israel wants Syria to gradually end its present alliance with Iran, its support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and its backing for Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, both of which maintain headquarters in Damascus.

Syria has yet to respond to the offers, the newspaper reported yesterday. But Damascus has repeatedly made its own overtures in recent years, following the failure of previous Israeli-Syrian talks in 2000 during the short-lived premiership of Ehud Barak.

News of the contacts comes in the same week that Israel celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Six Day War, in which it seized the Golan Heights from Syria, along with the Jordanian-controlled West Bank and East Jerusalem and the Egyptian-controlled Gaza Strip.

It also coincides with a sharp rise in tension between the two states. This week Mr Olmert was reported to have called on his officials and military commanders to stop talking up the prospects of a war with Syria this summer.

Relying on a flurry of leaks and briefings from "security sources", senior Israeli commentators have interpreted a Syrian arms build-up since last year's Lebanon War as a sign that Damascus intends to attack Israel in the months ahead.

Other analysts believe that Damascus fears the Israeli army will seek to restore prestige lost in last year's Lebanon war by seeking further military action against Damascus or its Lebanese client, the Hezbollah guerilla movement.

According to this theory the new weapons — chiefly anti-tank missiles, surface-to-surface missiles and anti-aircraft systems purchased from Russia — are intended as a deterrent.

Having lost the backing of the Soviet Union with the end of the Cold War, Syria's large but ramshackle conscript army no longer has modern armour, artillery or aircraft capable of challenging Israel's much more mobile, better trained and up-to-date forces.

Mr Olmert's reported move is already being interpreted by some in Israel as an attempt to restore purpose to a premiership badly battered by the failed attempt to destroy Hezbollah last July and August.

By pursuing progress with Syria, Israel might also sidestep pressure for a comprehensive peace settlement with the Arab world, including withdrawals to pre-1967 borders.

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Syria ready for Israel peace talks


Damascus would like to resume peace negotiations with Israel, an Syrian official said yesterday, a day after Israel said it did not want to go to war with Syria.

"Our position is the same. We are ready to resume peace negotiations, we would like to take action for peace. We're closely following (the Israeli) statements," the official told Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was quoted by his office as saying on Wednesday that his country "does not want a war with Syria." Speaking after a powerful security cabinet meeting that focused on Damascus, Olmert said the message had been passed to Syria through various diplomatic channels.

But the Syrian official said he doubted Israel's desire for peace, adding: "We don't have much hope of things changing."

On Wednesday, the United States and Israel said after high-level talks in Washington that the time might not be ripe for Israel to resume peace talks with Syria, which broke off seven years ago.

Olmert has for the moment rejected overtures by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to restart peace talks, saying Damascus had to first stop supporting groups like the Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas.

Olmert is expected to discuss the Syrian issue with U.S. President George W. Bush when the two leaders meet in Washington on June 19.

U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and Syria collapsed in 2000 over the return of the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau that Israel captured 40 years ago during the Six Day war and annexed in 1981.

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Israel sent secret peace offer to Syria


TEL AVIV - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sent a secret message to Syria suggesting a complete withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights in exchange for a full peace treaty, the Israeli Yediot Ahronot daily reported Friday, capping a week of speculation on whether Israel and Syria were headed for peace or war.

The Syrian leader has yet to respond to the offer, which also requested Syria sever ties with Palestinian militant groups, a ‘senior diplomatic source’ told Yediot.

But Israel Radio quoted a Syrian diplomat in London as denying the report and saying no invitation from Israel to reopen negotiations had been received.

Yediot did not say when the offer, conveyed to Damascus through Turkish and German diplomats, was made and there was no official Israel reaction to the report Friday.

According to the mass-circulation daily, US President George W Bush gave Olmert the green light to examine the possibility of renewing peace talks with Syria, when he telephoned Olmert to congratulate the Israeli premier on Israel’s independence day on April 24.

Reports several months ago said Washington had asked Israel not to push negotiations with Syria, because of Damascus’ support for Palestinian militant groups and its support for radicals in Lebanon.

But Olmert, who is widely perceived as a failure in office, badly needs some sort of diplomatic success to bolster his flagging ratings, especially now that he has scrapped his plan for a unilateral withdrawal from a large part of the West Bank.

That West Bank ‘realignment plan’ had been the fulcrum of his election campaign, last year, but faded from public discourse in wake of last summer’s Lebanon War between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

On Wednesday the premier, trying to tone down widespread speculation of a possible flare-up on the northern border this summer, told his inner security cabinet that Israel was not interested in war with Syria. He said Israel was delivering reassuring messages to Damascus on this matter ‘through various diplomatic channels.’

Some Israelis have expressed fears that Syria, some seven years after peace negotiations faltered and inspired by the performance of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement during 33 days of fighting with Israel last summer, is preparing a surprise blitz to reclaim some of the strategic plateau by force.

The goal would be to capture a small amount of territory and force Israel into negotiations.

Israeli media quoted Olmert’s aides as slamming what they termed the ‘superfluous prattle’ by various politicians about a possible war and Olmert himself asked his ministers to stop making statements on a possible conflict with Syria, since these threatened to increase tensions with Damascus.

Israeli forces captured the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau overlooking northern Israel, from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War fought 40 years ago this week.

Syria demands the return of the plateau as a prerequisite for any peace treaty with Israel.

Israeli-Syrian negotiations broke off in 2000 after then Israeli premier Ehud Barak offered to return most of Golan Heights with the exception of a security strip along the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee at the foot of the plateau, but Damascus refused.

Israeli Minister of Housing Meir Shitreet told Israel Radio he could accept Syrian sovereignty over the Golan Heights, but only as part of a deal where Syria would lease the plateau to Israel for 25 years, enough time, he said, to see whether Damascus was ready for true peace with the Jewish state.

But hawkish politicians reacted angrily to the report and said Olmert had no legitimacy from the public to withdraw from the Heights.

The Israeli public would be better off if Olmert was replaced and the Golan retained, leading opposition legislator Yisrael Katz said.

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سوريه امروز (دوشنبه)، خبر ديدار محرمانه*ي وزير امور خارجه*ي اين كشور با مسوولان رژيم صهيونيستي را قاطعانه رد كرد.

روزنامه*ي "المستقبل" لبنان در شماره*ي امروز خود مدعي شد كه "المعلم چند هفته پيش در سفري محرمانه به واشنگتن با شماري از مسوولان اسراييلي ديدار و در مورد ازسرگيري مذاكرات صلح ميان دو طرف كه از سال ‪ ۲۰۰۰‬ميلادي متوقف شده، مذاكره كرده است".

به گزارش نشريه*ي اينترنتي "سيريانيوز"، يك منبع مسوول در وزارت خارجه*ي سوريه گفت كه "دمشق ادعاي روزنامه*ي المستقبل را بشدت رد مي*كند".

اين منبع افزود: "اين، ادعاي پوچي است كه در چارچوب سياست گمراه*كننده ي تبليغاتي برخي محافل لبناني صورت مي*گيرد و اهداف آن نيز مشخص است".