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President for Life Assad gave his blessing
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| By Israel Insider staff November 25, 2007 |
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| Being Bashar Assad. John Malkovich would be envious. |
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Syria will reportedly send its Deputy Foreign Minister to Annapolis after the US and Israel agreed to allow the Golan Heights to be put on the agenda. The decision follows the Arab League decision to send representatives at the Foreign Minister level to the meeting. There are reports that the US also agreed to allow the Syrian claim on the Golan Heights to be discussed at a subsequent conference to be held in January in Moscow.
A charter member of the "Axis of Evil" defined by US President George W. Bush, along with Iran and North Korea, Syria was initially to be excluded from the parley, which was to include only "moderates." But apparently the Israeli Air Force attack on a Syrian nuclear plant caused the US Administration to think that this may be an opportune time to invited Damascus to the conference and try to wean Assad's regime away from its alliance with the Iranians.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry announced Sunday afternoon that Syria will be represented at the conference by Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad. The announcement came after Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said, upon arriving in Washington DC, that Syria would be allowed to mention the issue of the Golan Heights in a statement at Tuesday's parley, but the future of the northern plateau would not be discussed, the Israelis believe. The decision not to send the foreign minister himself may indicate that Syria remains uncertain about its interest in the conference.
FM Livni took credit for making the move that change the Syrians' position. She said that over 40 states would participate in a workshop entitled "comprehensive peace" at Tuesday's plenary session. The countries will be free to bring up any issue they wish and the Syrians will likely mention the Golan, she predicted.
"As a result of the inclusion of this phrase -- "comprehensive peace" -- I believe Syria has decided to attend the conference," Livni said. Speaking about the importance of wide Arab participation, including Syria and Saudi Arabia, she added that such support was a welcome development: "There isn't a single Palestinian who can reach an agreement with Israel without the support of the Arab world. This is one of the lessons we learned seven years ago."
Livni optimistic about reach "Joint Document"
She also expressed optimism that Israel and the Palestinian authority could do in three days what they had failed to do in three months: draft a mutually acceptable "joint document" that show points of agreement between the sides. "I think there will be a joint document," Livni said. "This is the statement that will launch the (peace) process, not solve (the conflict)."
Later Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to lead a final round of talks aimed at drafting a joint Israeli-Palestinian declaration, trying to bridge the huge gaps that remain between the sides. The Palestinians want the document to address core issues and include a tight timeline, while Israel wants much vaguer non-committal language and no timeline. Olmert has agreed to open negotiations on all areas of dispute after the meeting, which Israel's leading paper dubbed "the summit of low expectations."
Earlier Sunday, Syrian parliament member Muhammad Habash told the Arabic-language American radio station Sawa that Syria's position on taking part in the conference had changed after the United States said that the parley's agenda would include discussion of the future of the Golan Heights. It was not clear how his claims could be reconciled with Livni's statement, and whether Syria had received, as it had demanded, a written commitment from the US to discuss the Golan.
Meanwhile, leftwing Israeli politicians lauded the Syrian presence at the talks. Meretz MK Ran Cohen said that making peace with Syria would prevent "the next war" and isolate Iran. Meretz chairman Yossi Beilin said that Syria and Saudi Arabia's participation in the Annapolis conference created "high hopes" and added that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could no longer make do with statements to the effect that the very existence of the summit was a success.
On the other side of the political spectrum, MK Gilad Erdan (Likud) said that Syria's participation in Annapolis was a "meaningless masquerade." Syria is part of the axis of evil, Erdan said, and supports terror groups.
Israel Beitenu MK Alex Miller said that the question of who participated in Annapolis was unimportant. What was significant was the Palestinians' ability to stand by any agreements or declarations made at the conference, which he strongly doubted. |
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