Israel and Syria Say They Are Holding Peace Talks in Turkey
-New York Times Online Edition 22th May -
JERUSALEM — Israel and Syria have begun indirect peace talks, mediated by Turkey, aimed at reaching a comprehensive peace accord, the three governments announced in a coordinated statement Wednesday. The disclosure was the first public confirmation of the negotiations by all three sides.
The two most senior officials in Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office have been leading the Israeli negotiations and were in Istanbul on Wednesday, talking through Turkish mediators to their Syrian counterparts, Mr. Olmert’s office said.
The disclosure of the talks is official confirmation of what was already widely suspected of being ongoing contact between Syria and Israel, directed by Turkey. In the past months, Israel had been reluctant to make the negotiations public. But the negotiations now seem to have made enough progress that all sides decided they should acknowledge the meetings.
A senior official in Mr. Olmert’s office, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the talks with Syria and the decision to make them public had been coordinated and agreed with the United States.
The public disclosure that Israel, albeit indirectly, is talking with Syria, one of its most implacable enemies and a sponsor of groups that both Israel and the United States consider terrorists, came less than a week after President Bush, speaking to the Israeli Parliament, created a stir by criticizing those who would negotiate with “terrorists and radicals.”
Mr. Bush’s remarks have become an issue in the American presidential campaign because they were widely perceived as a rebuke to Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic front-runner, who has advocated the kind of engagement that Israel and Syria are now undertaking.
“The two sides stated their intention to conduct these talks in good faith and with an open mind,” a statement from Mr. Olmert’s office said, referring to Israel and Syria.
“They decided to pursue the dialogue between them in a serious and continuous way, in order to achieve the goal of comprehensive peace,” it said, thanking Turkey for its mediation.
Turkey is a close ally of the United States. It is also Syria’s neighbor and has an interest in securing regional peace.
Mr. Erdogan’s office confirmed the talks in Istanbul, but refused to say where in the city they were being held, or when they began. Mr. Erdogan has been working on convening negotiations for some time, an official in his office said, including holding phone conversations with leaders on both sides, and assigning a special envoy to handle the diplomatic back-and-forth.
Turkey, Israel and Syria agreed not to disclose details about the talks and to limit themselves to written public statements like those on Wednesday, the official said. “It’s a good beginning,” the official said. “We’ve reached an important phase.”
Turkey, a Muslim country whose government is secular, has positioned itself as an important mediator in international politics in recent years, particularly with the Muslim world.
Talks between Iranian and European officials on nuclear enrichment were held in Ankara last year. The government has even invited Hamas, though backpedaled after American officials protested. The new role as mediator, Western officials say, reflects Turkey’s increased confidence and independence, after decades of unquestioned support of American policy.
The statement however gave no details of what progress might have been made between Israel and Syria.
Negotiations between the two countries broke off in 2000 amid disagreement over the extent of a possible withdrawal by Israel from the Golan Heights. Israel captured the area from Syria in 1967 and extended Israeli law and administration to the area in 1981.
In April, a Syrian cabinet minister said that Mr. Olmert had sent a message to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to the effect that Israel would be willing to withdraw from all the Golan Heights in return for peace with Syria.
At the time, the Syrian expatriate affairs minister, Buthaina Shaaban, told Al Jazeera television, “Olmert is ready for peace with Syria on the grounds of international conditions; on the grounds of the return of the Golan Heights in full to Syria.”
The new talks date back to Mr. Olmert’s first visit to Turkey in Feb. 2007 when he and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a one-on-one meeting and decided that Ankara would play a role as mediator, a senior official in the Israeli prime minister’s office who spoke on the condition of anonymity said.
In the latest talks, the Israeli officials — led by Mr. Olmert’s chief of staff and his chief diplomatic adviser — had been in the Turkish capital since Monday and were due to return to Israel on Thursday, the official in Mr. Olmert’s office said. The official said the sides had examined carefully past efforts at seeking a peace accord and were aware where mistakes had been made.
Critics of Mr. Olmert in Israel, where the prime minister is maintaining his innocence in a bribery investigation, contend that he is using the diplomatic initiative to divert attention from his domestic troubles, but Mr. Olmert’s office denied there was any relation between the two issues.
Withdrawal from the Golan Heights is a contentious issue in Israel. The territory is a strategic plateau that overlooks a large swath of northern Israel. Israel has objected to past Syrian demands for access to the shore of the Sea of Galilee, a main water source for Israel.
Those in Israel who favor a deal with Syria, however, contend it would take Syria out of the Iranian sphere and end Syrian support for some groups hostile to Israel, such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas.
Ethan Bronner reported from Jerusalem and Graham Bowley from New York. Sabrina Tavernise contributed reporting from Istanbul. Isabel Kershner contributed reporting from Jerusalem.
Peace Talks between Syria and Israel
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