RAMALLAH/TEL AVIV, 22 May 2007 — The US ambassador to Israel yesterday said that Washington was not pressuring Israel to rebuff Syrian offers of peace talks, denying reports that the Americans have been urging Israel not to talk to Syria.
Ambassador Richard Jones’ comments came as an Israeli daily reported that the US has reversed its position and given Israel the green light to talk to Syria. He said both independently oppose such talks for the same reasons.
Speaking at an academic conference, Jones said the US had never put any pressure on Israel. While not referring directly to the report in Haaretz, Jones said Israel and the United States share the same view of Damascus.
“Do American and Israeli foreign policies differ on Syria? Does the United States stop Israel starting peace discussions with Syria? No. No,” he said.
“Israel is not negotiating with Syria because Israel doesn’t trust Syria anymore than the United States does,” he told the conference at Bar Ilan University outside Tel Aviv.
Israeli daily Haaretz reported yesterday that the US administration had given Israel the green light to accept Syrian President Bashar Assad’s offer for peace talks with several conditions.
The Bush administration has given Israel permission to discuss the future of the occupied Golan Heights, security arrangements and Israeli-Syrian peace accords if it agrees to talks with Syria, the daily reported.
According to the report, the US has stipulated that Israel must not agree to any negotiations, even indirectly, on the United States’ position, or on the future of Lebanon. Furthermore, Israel must not make promises to Syria regarding US policy. According to the new position, Washington will deal directly with Syria on these matters. The report added that Syria’s link with resistance groups in the region is an issue that the US is not discussing with Damascus currently. Iran and its military link with Syria is also not a topic that is open to discussion at present.
During a recent visit to Israel, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had ruled out the possibility of any dialogue when Bashar’s offer for a resumption of talks with Israel was raised. “It is best that you avoid even exploring this possibility,” she said.
Israel’s government, the report clarifies, interpreted this as a firm American stance preventing Syria from taking advantage of talks with Israel to pull itself out of diplomatic isolation before fulfilling its obligation to control insurgents from crossing into Iraq, and before meeting the demands of the international investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
In the past meetings, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert argued that US President George Bush opposed talks between Israel and Damascus, revealed the report.
Chief of Mossad (Israeli external intelligence agency) Meir Dagan also opposed talks with Syria. However military intelligence leaders including former Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aharon Ze’evi-Farkash, and his successor, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, were in favor.
Former chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon raised the issue of talks with Syria in meetings with former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who rejected the proposal.
The American position changed due to Syria’s participation in the Arab League summit in Riyadh.
During the meeting of Iraq’s neighbors held at Sharm El-Sheikh on May 3 and 4, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mualem adopted a moderate position. Rice then held a private meeting with Mualem.
