IN AN effort to reduce tension with Damascus, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday said Israel is seeking to renew peace talks with both Syria and the Palestinians.
Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Mr Netanyahu said Israel wants peace with all its Arab neighbours. “We did so with Egypt and Jordan and we aspire to do so with Syria and the Palestinians. We can achieve this with two conditions: the first is that we hold negotiations without preconditions. We will not accept the notion that Israel makes major concessions in advance,” he said.
“The second condition is that any agreement will safeguard Israel’s security interests . . . Solid security arrangements will help maintain a lasting peace.”
His comments followed a tense week in relations with Syria, dominated by an escalating war of words. After Syria’s foreign minister Walid al-Moallem warned that Israeli cities would be targeted in the event of war, his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman said a renewed conflict would result in Syrian president Bashar Assad being toppled.
Yesterday, Syrian information minister Mohsen Bilal described these remarks as “irresponsible, wild, and aggressive”, saying they “came from the mouth of a man whom the entire world scorns and whom no one receives”.
President Assad said at a meeting with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri yesterday that his country would stand beside Lebanon “against any Israeli attack it might encounter”.
Indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria, via Turkish mediators, broke off when Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza in December 2008. The recent deterioration in Israeli-Turkish relations has put a question over the role Turkey can play if the negotiations resume. Also, prime minister Netanyahu does not consider himself bound by any concessions made by Israeli officials from the previous government, headed by Ehud Olmert.
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians remain stalled, despite US efforts to get the sides talking again. Israeli officials have hinted that low-level contacts may resume shortly, but Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has asked the US for further clarifications before announcing any decision to resume negotiations.