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FM Tzipi Livni, in glam shot (Oliver Fitussi, Flash90)
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| By Israel Insider staff September 27, 2007 |
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Despite tensions between Israel and Syria, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met her Syrian counterpart, Walid Moallem, two days ago in New York, according to a report published Thursday in A-Sinara, a newspaper published in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth.
The meeting was reportedly brokered by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and had received the prior approval of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The meeting was said to have focused on Israel-Syria tensions and means of maintaining calm. Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, and the Syrian ambassador to Washington, also attended the hour-long meeting, Israel Radio reported.
An Arab source quoted by ynetnews said Moallem demanded clarifications on Israel's real stance, since he claimed that on one hand Israel continues to make calls for peace, while on the other, it infiltrates Syrian airspace.
Earlier this week Syrian officials said in response to the reports, "After such a raid, you can forget about peace."
Nonetheless, Olmert expressed his hopes that "the tension will gradually diffuse, and the front returns to calm. We are certainly interested in that." He previously had offered high praise of Syrian Bashar Assad and his policies.
Associates of Livni denied the A-Sinara report, and said the two foreign ministers had never met.
"Israel is spreading these rumors to the Israeli press," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem told Al-Jazeera on Thursday night.
Muallem emphasized that no meeting had occurred between himself and Livni, and no such meeting would take place while the "Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights and the oppression of the Palestinian people continue."
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