Olmert rejects linking Iraqi and Israeli conflicts

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today said he had no intention of opening peace talks with Syria, despite the recommendations of a US advisory group.

But he said Israel wanted “with all might” to restart peace talks with the Palestinians.

The Iraq Study Group report, released yesterday in Washington, calls for direct talks between Israel and its neighbours, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians, and says that a concerted effort to resolve the Israel-Arab conflict would improve the situation in Iraq.

But Olmert rejected that conclusion.

“The attempt to create a linkage between the Iraqi issue and the Mideast issue – we have a different view,” Olmert said, during the prime minister’s annual meeting with Israeli journalists in Tel Aviv.

Olmert said conditions were not ripe to reopen long-dormant talks with Syria and added that he received no indications from US President George Bush during his recent visit to Washington that the US would push Israel to start such talks.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has called in recent months for a new round of talks with Israel.

Olmert said that he did not think talks would force Syria to break its close ties with Iran, Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

“I don’t think there is a Syrian desire for war with us. We certainly don’t have a desire to fight with them. That doesn’t mean conditions are ripe for us to negotiate with them,” he said.

Olmert, however, said that Israel was deeply interested in restarting new talks with the Palestinians and would work, “with all our might” to make them happen.

He also welcomed a peace initiative put forward by Saudi Arabia, saying it contained “interesting elements that should not be ignored.” However, he did not fully endorse the plan, which called for Israel to withdraw from all of the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, a stipulation Israel rejects.

Olmert also rejected suggestions that Israel’s recent ceasefire with Palestinian militants in Gaza would simply allow the militants to rearm and regroup for another round of fighting, saying that Israel would not allow that to happen.

He said that despite occasional rocket attacks by Gaza militants at Israel, “we will continue to show restraint”.

Olmert also addressed the controversy over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, reiterating Israel’s position that it will not tolerate a nuclear Iran, but will not take unilateral action, preferring that the dispute be settled by the international community as a whole.

He also reiterated his support for the US war in Iraq, a position that caused some controversy during his US trip last month.

“We always felt, like other nations in our region, that the removal of Saddam Hussein was a major, major contribution to stability of our part of the world,” he said.