Assad 'sceptical' of Bush conference call

Syrian President Bashar Assad expressed scepticism today towards US President George Bush’s call for an international Middle East peace conference, dismissing the offer as “just words”.

Washington’s Arab allies, however, praised the proposal.

Assad said he hoped Bush’s call was serious and that Syria was ready for peace talks with Israel but only in the presence of an honest broker. He did not elaborate whether he considered the United States as such.

“I read this morning that the American president spoke of his wish to work for a peace conference. I hope…this is true but to this moment these are just words as far as we are concerned,” Assad said in a speech before parliament after being sworn in for a second, seven-year term in office.

Bush said yesterday that the conference would be held late this year at a yet-to-be disclosed site and would include Israelis, Palestinians and some of their Arab neighbours.

It would give the parties a fresh chance to discuss issues that have blocked restarting peace negotiations and setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

US Arab allies were quick to welcome Bush’s proposal.

Saudi King Abdullah told Bush in a phone call that both “Palestinians and Arabs choose peace”, according to a statement carried by the state Saudi Press Agency.

Abdullah spoke in favour of the so-called Arab peace initiative, which includes normalising relations between Israel and Arab countries, in return for withdrawal of Israel from all territories it occupied since 1967.

It also calls for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and a settlement for the Palestinian refugees issue.

The Saudi news agency did not say whether Saudi Arabia – which unlike Egypt and Jordan does not have diplomatic relations with Israel – would actually participate at the proposed international conference. Saudi participation would mark a significant development in Riyadh’s policy.

Jordan’s King Abdullah also spoke to President Bush yesterday and backed a relaunching of Arab-Israeli peacemaking as a “positive step in the right direction”.

“This call will pave the way for achieving a real and tangible progress in the peace process leading to an independent Palestinian state to be established on Palestinian soil,” Abdullah said, according to a palace statement released today.

The Jordanian ruler, who is on a state visit to Canada, also said Bush’s pledge for more than $190m (€138m) in aid to the Palestinians would help “toward easing economic hardship facing the Palestinian people”.

In Damascus, Assad also demanded some conditions before peace talks in the region can be resumed.

He said Syria wants “certain guarantees” from Israel similar to the so-called “Rabin Deposit” reportedly made by the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin before Israeli-Syrian peace talks resumed in the late 1990s.

The “Rabin Deposit” refers to a promise made by Rabin to former US President Bill Clinton for full withdrawal from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in any final peace agreement with Syria. Many Israelis contest that promise, which Clinton wrote about in his memoirs.

“The minimum that is required is a deposit, similar to Rabin’s deposit, or anything in writing to give us some guarantees,” Assad said.

When this becomes available, there can be channels with Israel through a third party, he said. After that, there can be “direct, open negotiations in the presence of an honest broker”.

But the Syrian leader also reiterated his support for Islamic radical groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, without specifically naming them.

“The national and humanitarian tragedies we are witnessing in Iraq and the foreign troops’ inability to provide the minimum security must be an important lesson to all those … who think that security can come at the hands of foreign troops,” he said.

He said recent events have “increased our commitment to making (armed) resistance, a way of life and our choice for securing our rights and regaining our land”.