ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. AND SYRIA WILL MAKE PEACE IN 6 MONTHS GOOD LUCK!!!!!
Syria-Israel peace possible within six months: negotiator by Ron Bousso APR 13,07
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Syria and Israel could clinch a peace deal in six months, a Syrian-American businessman at the heart of secret unofficial peace talks said on Thursday after appearing before a top parliamentary panel. Peace can be reached in six months if both parties are willing, Ibrahim (Abe) Suleiman said. The negotiations are finished. There are only minor things that could be fixed in two or three meetings. Peace is possible now.Suleiman spoke to reporters after appearing before parliament's powerful foreign affairs and defence committee with Alon Liel, a former Israeli foreign ministry director general who headed the Israeli side in the unofficial talks.
Suleiman and Liel headed two years of the secret talks during which understandings were reached for a peace treaty between Syria and Israel.Suleiman, 60, was at the centre of the official peace talks between Israel and Syria which began following the Madrid peace summit, including the 1996 US-sponsored talks at Wye Plantation and later in 2000 in Shepherdstown.During those talks, Suleiman said on Thursday, the sides solved 80 percent of disagreements.He said that he and Liel succeeded in further narrowing the gap between the sides, and that their talks should be replaced by official negotiations.Our work is done, now it's up to officials in Israel and Syria to sit down and iron out their differences, the US businessman said. We gave them a peace map.Syria's President Bashar al-Assad wants peace with Israel. He wants to make peace and be known as the man of peace.
I believe him, but Bashar al-Assad alone cannot make peace, he needs a partner in Israel. I challenge the Israeli government to answer President Bashar's call for peace to sit down together and work things out.Suleiman nevertheless doubted the ability of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to make meaningful steps towards peace talks and withdraw from the Golan plateau.The obstacle is Ehud Olmert. He is definitely not strong enough to make peace. His popularity is very, very low, he said in an interview with Channel 10 TV.Olmert has repeatedly rejected peace overtures by the Syrian president in recent months, saying Damascus must first stop supporting militant groups in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.A spokesman for the Olmert's office, David Baker, said in reaction that Syria is not earnest in its desire for peace. It continues to harbour terrorist groups in Damascus while promoting terror against Israel in every possible way.
Israeli MP Danny Yatom, a former chief of the Mossad spy agency who was involved in peace talks between the two sides, also doubted Syria's intentions.You don't have to be an expert to see that the Syrians are not ready for serious peace talks, he told reporters after hearing Suleiman and Liel in the parliament committee.Reports of the secret talks first appeared in the Israeli press in January.At the time, the Israeli and Syrian governments denied any knowledge of the contacts, which were held in Europe between September 2004 and July 2006 in the presence of a European mediator. Peace talks between Israel and Syria collapsed in 2000, in part because of disputes over the return of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War and unilaterally annexed in 1981.
