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PMO denies peace message to Assad
Herb Keinon, THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 5, 2007
The Prime Minister's Office issued a rare "clarification" Wednesday that, in
gentle diplomatic terms, contradicted US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's
statement in Damascus that she had brought a message from Israel about a
willingness to engage in peace talks.
According to the statement, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert emphasized in his
meeting with Pelosi on Sunday that "although Israel is interested in peace
with Syria, that country continues to be part of the Axis of Evil and a
force that encourages terror in the entire Middle East."
Olmert, the statement clarified, told Pelosi that Syria's sincerity about a
genuine peace with Israel would be judged by its willingness to "cease its
support of terror, cease its sponsoring of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad
organizations, refrain from providing weapons to Hizbullah and bringing
about the destabilizing of Lebanon, cease its support of terror in Iraq, and
relinquish the strategic ties it is building with the extremist regime in
Iran."
The statement said Olmert had not communicated to Pelosi any change in
Israeli policy on Damascus.
Pelosi, who met in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad over the
objections of US President George W. Bush, said she brought a message to
Assad from Olmert saying that Israel was ready for peace talks.
"We were very pleased with the reassurances we received from the president
[Assad] that he was ready to resume the peace process. He was ready to
engage in negotiations for peace with Israel," Pelosi said after meeting
Assad
..
a.. She said the meeting with the Syrian leader "enabled us to communicate a
message from Prime Minister Olmert that Israel was ready to engage in peace
talks as well."
According to officials in the Prime Minister's Office, however, this was not
what transpired during her meeting with Olmert.
The officials said Olmert had told Pelosi that he thought her trip to
Damascus was a mistake, and that when she asked - nevertheless - whether he
had a message for Assad, Olmert said Syria should first stop supporting
terrorism and "act like a normal country," and only then would Israel be
willing to hold discussions.
The first part of that message, the officials said, was lost in what was
reported from Damascus on Wednesday.
Pelosi said the congressional delegation she led raised the issue of
kidnapped IDF soldiers Gilad Schalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev and
conveyed "the importance of Syria's role in promoting peace between the
Palestinians and the Israelis." She also said she had pressed Assad on
Syrian support for Hamas and Hizbullah.
In a related development, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed
al-Khalifa told the Bahrain daily Al-Ayam on Tuesday that the Riyadh Arab
League summit set up "panels to communicate with all influential parties,
including Israel, to activate the Arab Peace Initiative."
According to the Bahrain News Agency, Khalifa said the Arab League has
formed "working teams to communicate with all parties, including Israel, the
United Nations, the US, China and the European Union."
He said the team would make contacts with Israel "within a month," and that
contacts with Israel would be made by countries "that have ties" with it,
while the other Arab nations would contact the US and the EU member states.
A source in the Prime Minister's Office denied knowledge of any working
groups that would be calling Jerusalem.
"We still haven't accepted the full initiative," the source said, adding
that there would be no formal reply until after the Prime Minister's Office
returned from the weeklong Pessah holiday. "But we've never said no to
contact."
The Pelosi-Assad meeting, meanwhile, was widely viewed as an attempt to push
the Bush administration to open a direct dialogue with Syria, a step that
the White House has rejected. Congressional Democrats insist the US attempts
to isolate Syria have failed to force the Assad government to change its
policies.
Rep. Tom Lantos, the head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who was a
member of Pelosi's delegation, said the meeting "reinforced very strongly"
the potential benefits of talking to Syria.
"This is only the beginning of our constructive dialogue with Syria and we
hope to build on this visit," he told reporters.
On Tuesday, Bush denounced Pelosi's visit to Syria, saying it sent mixed
signals to Assad's government.
"Sending delegations doesn't work. It's simply been counterproductive," Bush
said.
Last year, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group recommended Washington open talks
with Iran and Syria to try to resolve the war in Iraq and other regional
crises. Bush rejected the recommendations, insisting dialogue would not
bring results. But in February, the US joined a gathering of regional
diplomats in Baghdad that included Iran and Syria for talks on Iraq.
"We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a
road to peace," Pelosi said. She said she and her delegation "expressed
[their] concern about Syria's connections to Hizbullah and Hamas," and
discussed the issue of terrorists slipping across the Syrian border into
Iraq.
"These are important issues not only in the fight against terrorism, but
priorities for us for peace in the Middle East," she said.
"These people in the United States who are opposing dialogue, I tell them
one thing: Dialogue is... the only method to close the gap existing between
two countries," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem told reporters
after Wednesday's Assad-Pelosi meeting.
"Everyone knows there are different points of view between Syria and the
United States," he said. "We are happy that Mrs. Pelosi and her delegation
had the courage and determination to bridge these differences."
AP contributed to this report. .
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879247562&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer
Herb Keinon, THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 5, 2007
The Prime Minister's Office issued a rare "clarification" Wednesday that, in
gentle diplomatic terms, contradicted US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's
statement in Damascus that she had brought a message from Israel about a
willingness to engage in peace talks.
According to the statement, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert emphasized in his
meeting with Pelosi on Sunday that "although Israel is interested in peace
with Syria, that country continues to be part of the Axis of Evil and a
force that encourages terror in the entire Middle East."
Olmert, the statement clarified, told Pelosi that Syria's sincerity about a
genuine peace with Israel would be judged by its willingness to "cease its
support of terror, cease its sponsoring of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad
organizations, refrain from providing weapons to Hizbullah and bringing
about the destabilizing of Lebanon, cease its support of terror in Iraq, and
relinquish the strategic ties it is building with the extremist regime in
Iran."
The statement said Olmert had not communicated to Pelosi any change in
Israeli policy on Damascus.
Pelosi, who met in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad over the
objections of US President George W. Bush, said she brought a message to
Assad from Olmert saying that Israel was ready for peace talks.
"We were very pleased with the reassurances we received from the president
[Assad] that he was ready to resume the peace process. He was ready to
engage in negotiations for peace with Israel," Pelosi said after meeting
Assad
..
a.. She said the meeting with the Syrian leader "enabled us to communicate a
message from Prime Minister Olmert that Israel was ready to engage in peace
talks as well."
According to officials in the Prime Minister's Office, however, this was not
what transpired during her meeting with Olmert.
The officials said Olmert had told Pelosi that he thought her trip to
Damascus was a mistake, and that when she asked - nevertheless - whether he
had a message for Assad, Olmert said Syria should first stop supporting
terrorism and "act like a normal country," and only then would Israel be
willing to hold discussions.
The first part of that message, the officials said, was lost in what was
reported from Damascus on Wednesday.
Pelosi said the congressional delegation she led raised the issue of
kidnapped IDF soldiers Gilad Schalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev and
conveyed "the importance of Syria's role in promoting peace between the
Palestinians and the Israelis." She also said she had pressed Assad on
Syrian support for Hamas and Hizbullah.
In a related development, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed
al-Khalifa told the Bahrain daily Al-Ayam on Tuesday that the Riyadh Arab
League summit set up "panels to communicate with all influential parties,
including Israel, to activate the Arab Peace Initiative."
According to the Bahrain News Agency, Khalifa said the Arab League has
formed "working teams to communicate with all parties, including Israel, the
United Nations, the US, China and the European Union."
He said the team would make contacts with Israel "within a month," and that
contacts with Israel would be made by countries "that have ties" with it,
while the other Arab nations would contact the US and the EU member states.
A source in the Prime Minister's Office denied knowledge of any working
groups that would be calling Jerusalem.
"We still haven't accepted the full initiative," the source said, adding
that there would be no formal reply until after the Prime Minister's Office
returned from the weeklong Pessah holiday. "But we've never said no to
contact."
The Pelosi-Assad meeting, meanwhile, was widely viewed as an attempt to push
the Bush administration to open a direct dialogue with Syria, a step that
the White House has rejected. Congressional Democrats insist the US attempts
to isolate Syria have failed to force the Assad government to change its
policies.
Rep. Tom Lantos, the head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who was a
member of Pelosi's delegation, said the meeting "reinforced very strongly"
the potential benefits of talking to Syria.
"This is only the beginning of our constructive dialogue with Syria and we
hope to build on this visit," he told reporters.
On Tuesday, Bush denounced Pelosi's visit to Syria, saying it sent mixed
signals to Assad's government.
"Sending delegations doesn't work. It's simply been counterproductive," Bush
said.
Last year, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group recommended Washington open talks
with Iran and Syria to try to resolve the war in Iraq and other regional
crises. Bush rejected the recommendations, insisting dialogue would not
bring results. But in February, the US joined a gathering of regional
diplomats in Baghdad that included Iran and Syria for talks on Iraq.
"We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a
road to peace," Pelosi said. She said she and her delegation "expressed
[their] concern about Syria's connections to Hizbullah and Hamas," and
discussed the issue of terrorists slipping across the Syrian border into
Iraq.
"These are important issues not only in the fight against terrorism, but
priorities for us for peace in the Middle East," she said.
"These people in the United States who are opposing dialogue, I tell them
one thing: Dialogue is... the only method to close the gap existing between
two countries," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem told reporters
after Wednesday's Assad-Pelosi meeting.
"Everyone knows there are different points of view between Syria and the
United States," he said. "We are happy that Mrs. Pelosi and her delegation
had the courage and determination to bridge these differences."
AP contributed to this report. .
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879247562&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer