Report: Syria, Israel trade messages on possible peace talks By ALBERT AJI, Associated Press Writer Sun Apr 20, 8:11 PM ET
DAMASCUS, Syria - Syrian President Bashar Assad said Sunday he has exchanged messages with Israel through a third party to explore the possibility of resuming peace talks, the country's official news agency reported. During a meeting with ruling Baath Party officials, Assad commented on media reports about indirect contact between the two countries.There are efforts exerted in this direction, he was quoted as saying by SANA.An Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, on Thursday quoted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as saying Israel and Syria have been exchanging messages to clarify expectations for any future peace treaty. He did not disclose the content of the messages or provide other details about the contacts.The paper quoted Olmert as saying, They know what we want from them, and I know full well what they want from us.Assad echoed those comments on Sunday, saying Israel knows well what is accepted and not accepted by Syria.But he also rejected having any secret direct talks or contacts with Israel.
Anything Syria does in this regard will be announced to the public, Assad was quoted as saying. He did not elaborate.Negotiations broke off in 2000 after Syria rejected Israel's offer to return the Golan Heights, which it captured in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed.Syria wanted Israel to withdraw to the prewar line on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. But Israel was not prepared to give up any control of the lake that provides about half of the country's drinking water.Despite the peace overtures, tensions have been high between the two countries in recent months, largely stemming from an Israeli air attack on a Syrian military facility in September. Some foreign reports have said the target was a nuclear installation Syria was building with North Korean assistance.Damascus denies having a nuclear program, and North Korea says it was not involved in any such project. Syria did not retaliate for the attack.Both Syria and Israel have expressed a willingness to renew talks since Israel's war against the Lebanese-based Hezbollah militia in 2006. Olmert has insisted that if Syria is serious about peace, Damascus must withdraw its support for Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Abbas to discuss Israel-Palestinian peace with Bush By Wafa Amr Sun Apr 20, 5:59 PM ET
TUNIS (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday he would consult President George W. Bush this week on ways to advance peace talks so that a deal with Israel can be reached by the end of the year. Abbas, speaking during a visit to Tunisia from where he travels to Washington on Tuesday, said he does not want the outcome of Israeli-Palestinian talks, shrouded in secrecy, to end with a vague declaration of principles.I will focus in my talks with President Bush and American officials on the negotiations and on ending talks with an agreement this year, Abbas told reporters.
The Palestinian president said he wants a framework deal that would outline the way sensitive final status issues can be resolved to establish a Palestinian state.Palestinian officials have said that peace talks on issues including the fate of Jerusalem, Jewish settlements, Palestinian refugees and borders, have shown no real signs of progress since their launch late last year.Bush, who is set to visit Israel in May to celebrate the Jewish state's 60th anniversary, said at the summit in Annapolis, Maryland last November that he wanted the sides to reach a deal before he leaves office early in 2009.Abbas said he will meet Bush on Thursday and will also have two meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to review progress in the talks.I'm not saying we will end up with agreement but we will try to meet the target date of having a deal by the end of this year, he said.Abbas warned against missing the window of opportunity for making peace this year and said that if this year ends without an agreement, we will face very difficult times.
SUGGESTIONS FROM BUSH
Senior aides traveling with Abbas said he was hoping to hear Bush's suggestions on ways to save the peace process as they were concerned that the year-end target would lapse.President Abbas is not going to Washington to complain but to review the talks five months after Annapolis and to see how things can be moved forward, senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.The Palestinians also said that Washington has so far refrained from pressuring Israel to advance the process.We will tell the Americans we don't expect them to pressure Israel, but we want them to be fair, Abbas said.Israeli negotiators headed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian negotiators led by Ahmed Qurie had been meeting regularly to discuss all the issues, he added.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said earlier this month it would be possible to reach understandings with the Palestinians this year that would lead to a future Palestinian state, but added, I don't see any chance that we can implement an agreement in the coming period.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said President Bush believes that Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas are committed to getting an agreement this year.Israeli officials have said that even if a deal was reached, it would not be implemented as long as the Gaza Strip is run by militant Hamas Islamists who seized the territory from Abbas's Fatah faction almost a year ago. (Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Editing by Ori Lewis and Keith Weir)
I WROTE TO OBAMA AND ASKED HIM IF HE WOULD HELP ISRAEL OR STICK UP FOR THE ARABS IN THE PEACE PROCESS. I JUST GOT A RESPONSE, WE HAVE TO MANY E-MAILS TO ANSWER QUESTIONS.
Obama faults Presidents Bush, Clinton on Mideast Sun Apr 20, 4:19 PM ET
READING, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - White House hopeful Barack Obama on Sunday criticized both President George W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton for waiting too long to make a big push to achieve Middle East peace. Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, said he would pursue an active diplomacy from the beginning to try to reach a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians.Campaigning in Reading, Pennsylvania, Obama was asked his view on former President Jimmy Carter's meetings with leaders of the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas during a trip to the Middle East that began a week ago.I actually disagree with him on his meeting with Hamas, Obama said.Obama is vying with former first lady Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination and the right to run against Republican Sen. John McCain in the November presidential election.
On the other hand, what I also disagree with is a habit of American presidents which is every president in their last year, they finally decide, we're going to try to broker a peace deal, Obama added. Bill Clinton did it in his last year and he ran out of time. George Bush tried to do it.The peace conference launched in Annapolis, Maryland, in November marked a shift for Republican Bush, who previously had avoided a hands-on role in Middle East peace negotiations.Democrat Bill Clinton's attempts at Middle East peace included the summit he hosted at the Wye River near Washington in 1998. In 2000, his final year in office, he invited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to Camp David for a summit to resolve disputes but the talks ended in crisis.Obama said the Annapolis process has initiated some useful discussions but, why didn't they start at the beginning of the term instead of at the end of the term? I think that we do have to move forward on active diplomacy and I do believe that diplomacy has to involve all the Arab states in the region, he said.
Although he disagreed with Carter's decision to meet Hamas, Obama credited the former president, a Democrat, with achieving significant progress on the peace effort during his time in the White House. Carter hosted talks at Camp David that led to the signing of a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1979.(Reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Official: Carter briefs Jordan's king on Hamas meetings By JAMAL HALABY, Associated Press Writer Sun Apr 20, 1:44 PM ET
AMMAN, Jordan - Former President Carter briefed Jordan's king Sunday on his controversial talks with the exiled militant Hamas leader, a Royal Palace official said. But King Abdullah II chose to focus their meeting on the faltering Israeli-Palestinian peace process rather than Carter's dealings with Hamas, which has frosty relations with Jordan, said the official on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.Carter held talks with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and his deputy in Syria on Friday and Saturday — defying U.S. and Israeli warnings that doing so would lend legitimacy to the group, responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks that have killed some 250 Israelis.Jordan also accuses Hamas of stockpiling and concealing weapons in the kingdom with the intention of using them to destabilize the pro-U.S. government.Hamas officials said they talked with Carter about an internationally backed Israeli embargo on Gaza and a possible Israel-Hamas prisoner swap.
Carter, who brokered the 1978 Israeli-Egyptian peace, is trying to secure the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. But Hamas has said Shalit would not see the light until Palestinian prisoners are also released in an exchange.Hamas also did not respond to Carter's requests that it halt rocket fire on Israeli border towns and agree to talk to Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishak about a prisoner exchange.Abdullah's closed-door talks with Carter came as Israel killed seven Hamas militants in a series of air strikes after the group detonated two jeeps packed with hundreds of kilograms of explosives at an Israeli crossing on the Gaza border.It was not immediately known what Carter said to Abdullah about his talks with Mashaal. Carter, who has said he is on a personal peace mission, has not publicly commented since being in Syria.According to a statement released by the Royal Palace, Abdullah discussed with Carter ways to help Palestinians and Israelis continue their negotiations on final status issues leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.The king also urged Israel to abandon its siege (of the Gaza Strip) and settlement expansion, the statement said.Carter will be in Jerusalem on Monday for the final stop on his Mideast tour.
