Last update - 00:00 24/09/2007
Israeli officials: J'lem doesn't object to Syria joining peace summit
By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters
Israel does not object to Syria taking part in a U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference planned for November despite heightened tensions between the long-time enemies, Israeli officials said on Monday.
"The United States is the one that will issue the invitations and that will define the criteria for the invitations, and we have no problem with whomever they decide to invite," said Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Another senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said: "We have no objections to Syria participating as long as the talks stay only on the Palestinian track."
Israeli officials and Western diplomats said Syria's participation in the conference would be a way to test its willingness to break with militant groups including Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip by force in June and rejected the U.S.-sponsored conference.
"It would legitimize the entire effort" to bolster Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and isolate Hamas, the senior Israeli official said.
At a meeting of the Quartet of Middle East peace mediators Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said members of an Arab League panel comprised of the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt were "natural invitees" to the U.S.-hosted conference.
Only Jordan and Egypt have full relations with Israel, while Syria is deeply estranged from the state, providing arms and money to Hezbollah and Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Rice, however, suggested that attendance at the fall summit came with some conditions.
"Coming to this meeting also brings with it certain responsibilities," Rice told reporters at a news conference after the meeting of the United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union.
"We hope that those who come are really committed to helping the Israelis and the Palestinians find a way through. And that means renouncing violence, it means working for a peaceful solution," she added.
The United States wants other Arab states to take part in the conference as a way to build support for a broader peace between Israel and its neighbors.
Rice would not say unequivocally that invitations would be extended to Syria, Saudi Arabia and the other members of the Arab League panel created to follow up on the group's 2002 peace plan. A senior U.S. official said, however, that the U.S. would do so.
That plan, initially floated by Saudi Arabia, called on Israel to withdraw to the pre-1967 boundaries, reach an "agreed, just" solution for Palestinian refugees, and accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital. In exchange, the plan offers Israel normalized relations with all Arab states.
Following a dinner between the Quartet and Arab ministers, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said Riyadh had not yet decided whether it would accept any invitation.
"We've got some answers but we still have some questions which we hope to be answered," he told reporters, adding that Saudi Arabia had not yet decided whether it would attend the summit.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said he expected "the majority" of Arab invitees to attend.
Rice told the news conference the meeting would be "substantive and serious" and would deal with the core issues of Palestinian refugees, Jerusalem and borders.
There has been deep skepticism among Arab diplomats about the U.S. effort this year to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace after six years of what critics regard as relative neglect.
There is also little detail about the conference that the United States is expected to host, including exactly when and where it would be held and who would be invited.
In a statement after its meeting, the Quartet said it hoped by the end of the year to find a way to resume direct funding to the government of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
The Quartet also called on Israel to maintain "essential services" to Gaza, the coastal strip ruled by Hamas, after Israel declared the area an "enemy entity" and said it would reduce fuel and power supplies in response to rocket attacks by Palestinians.