Israel & Syria Holding Peace Talks

As long as Olmert doesn't give up the Golan Heights for peace with Syria. New York Times

JERUSALEM — Israel and Syria have begun indirect peace talks, mediated by Turkey, aimed at reaching a comprehensive peace accord, the three governments announced in a coordinated statement Wednesday. The announcement is the first public confirmation of the negotiations by all three sides.

The two most senior officials in Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office have been leading the Israeli negotiations and were in Ankara, the Turkish capital, on Wednesday, talking through Turkish mediators to their Syrian counterparts, Mr. Olmert’s office said.

Turkey is a close ally of the United States. It is also Syria’s neighbor and has an interest in securing regional peace. A senior official in Mr. Olmert’s office, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the talks with Syria and the decision to make them public had been coordinated with American officials.

....

The statement is official confirmation of what was widely suspected to be ongoing contact between Syria and Israel, directed by Turkey. In the past months, Israel had been reluctant to make the negotiations public. But the negotiations now seem to have made enough progress that all sides decided they should acknowledge the meetings.

“The two sides stated their intention to conduct these talks in good faith and with an open mind,” a statement from Mr. Olmert’s office said, referring to Israel and Syria.

“They decided to pursue the dialogue between them in a serious and continuous way, in order to achieve the goal of comprehensive peace,” it said, thanking Turkey for its mediation.

The statement gave no details of what progress might have been made.

Negotiations between Israel and Syria broke off in 2000 amid disagreement over the extent of a possible withdrawal by Israel from the Golan Heights. Israel captured the area from Syria in 1967 and extended Israeli law and administration to the area in 1981.

In April, a Syrian cabinet minister said that Mr. Olmert had sent a message to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to the effect that Israel would be willing to withdraw from all the Golan Heights in return for peace with Syria.

At the time, the Syrian expatriate affairs minister, Buthaina Shaaban, told Al Jazeera television, “Olmert is ready for peace with Syria on the grounds of international conditions; on the grounds of the return of the Golan Heights in full to Syria.”