Israel tries to resume Syria peace talks 28/03/2008 - 09:10:28
An Israeli Cabinet minister confirmed today that Israel was trying to bring Syria back to the negotiating table.
The disclosure of Israeli efforts to engage Syria in negotiations comes at a time when Israeli attempts to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians are making no visible progress despite intense US involvement.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was expected in the region this weekend to try to narrow the differences between the two sides.
Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer spoke about the talks with Syria just days after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hinted that Israel might be holding – or planning to hold secret talks with its northern neighbour.
“All efforts are being made to bring Syria to the negotiating table” in order to “sign a peace treaty,” Ben-Eliezer told Israel Radio, without elaborating.
“We know exactly what the price would be,” he added – namely, Israel’s return of the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war.
He would not disclose what results there have been, if any, from Israel’s efforts to resume dialogue with the Syrians.
Syrian officials were not immediately available for comment on Ben-Eliezer’s remarks.
Israel-Syria peace talks – a centrepiece of then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s political agenda – broke down in 2000 with Syria rejecting Israel’s offer to withdraw from the Golan Heights, and insisting that Israel pull back to the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Mr Ben-Eliezer told Israel Radio that Mr Barak, now defence minister, was a partner to the current efforts to renew talks with Damascus.
On Wednesday, Mr Olmert told foreign journalists that Israel favours face-to-face talks with Syria that could result in a peace treaty, adding: “That doesn’t mean that when we sit together you have to see us,” he said, an apparent reference to the possibility of secret contacts.
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