Olmert: No government officials involved in secret Syria talks - Haaretz

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Wed., November 28, 2007 Kislev 18, 5768

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Last update - 00:48 17/01/2007

Olmert: No government officials involved in secret Syria talks

By Haaretz Staff

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that no government officials were involved in secret contacts with Syria, responding to a Haaretz report that understandings on a peace agreement between Jerusalem and Damascus were formulated in a series of secret meetings in Europe between September 2004 and July 2006.

"No one in the government was involved in this matter," Olmert told reporters in northern Israel. "It was a private initiative on the part of an individual who spoke with himself. From what I read, his interlocutor was an eccentric from the U.S., someone not serious or dignified."

The Syrian Foreign Ministry also rejected the report.

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"No negotiations took place, the Haaretz report is completely false," a Syrian Foreign Ministry official said in Damascus.

Official Israeli response to the report was more tentative.

"This is the first we have heard of the talks, we have never sanctioned anybody to speak to the Syrians and the prime minister first learned of these conversations through the newspaper report this morning," said Olmert's spokeswoman Miri Eisin.

An unnamed senior cabinet minister was quoted Tuesday as saying that there were no contacts between the two nations, and that the story was "a bluff."

"We don't know about this, and if this had happened, we would have known about it," Israel Radio quoted the minister as saying. "This is not serious. It's possible that there were contacts on the level of academics, it's possible that there were reports to officials on a low level. But it did not reach higher than that."

The minister dismissed the report as a "bluff," the radio said.

Former foreign minister Silvan Shalom said that he first learned of the talks by reading Tuesday's paper. He said the last contact Israel had with a Syrian representative was in 2003.

Dr. Alon Liel, a former director general at the Foreign Ministry, who took part in all the meetings, was quoted as saying that he had not acted the representative of anyone. Liel further declined to state whom he had informed of the meetings.

The radio quoted unnamed senior Israeli officials as stating that Israel is not holding contacts with Syria.

The officials referred to the sensitivity of the issue, in view of the opposition of Washington, Israel's main ally, to negotiations with the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"Syria is trying to topple the Siniora government in Lebanon, a government which the United States is trying to aid," the radio quoted one official as saying. "Syria streams terror elements to Iraq, where they operate against the United States military, Syria fosters [Damascus-based Hamas leader] Khaled Meshal, it transfers arms to Hezbollah, hosts headquarters of terror organizations, supports Hamas, and, in general, undermines any attempt to reach a [peace] agreement

A figure described as a very senior official in the office of then-prime minister Ariel Sharon was quoted as saying that "there was no reports to Sharon, there were no reports to his office, there was no connection between Sharon and Alon Liel, this never happened."

"This is absolute nonsense.

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1.	Contacts.	09:58	\|	Vital	16/01/07

2.	Just like subvertor Peres entangled Israel in pal quagmire,Livni	10:56	\|	Absolute Sweden	16/01/07

3.	april fool´s day?	11:00	\|	thor	16/01/07

4.	april fool´s day?	11:00	\|	thor	16/01/07

5.	april fool´s day?	11:01	\|	thor	16/01/07

6.	Strategic Leak:	11:05	\|	dg	16/01/07

7.	So it is	11:37	\|	Fritz	16/01/07

8.	The Marsians have landed	11:58	\|	Honi	16/01/07

9.	What do you expect them to do...??	12:21	\|	Swiss (Dino)	16/01/07

10.	Who ? , what the hell is going on ?,	12:30	\|	Joseph E .	16/01/07

11.	Fritz` policy and aims	12:39	\|	christoph	16/01/07

12.	Haaretz caught lying again	12:43	\|	Ken Jurist	16/01/07

13.	What next for Haaretz. Insurgents and U.S sign peace deal	12:46	\|	David Stoler	16/01/07

14.	With friends like this, does Siniora need enemies?	13:17	\|	tuairimiocht	16/01/07

15.	Why is Haaretz printing rumors?	14:11	\|	A. M. R.	16/01/07

16.	To Mr. Sweden	14:16	\|	Brian Freund	16/01/07

17.	I did not have sex with that country!	14:56	\|	Physicist	16/01/07

18.	No matter, it`s a good idea!	14:57	\|	Ian	16/01/07

19.	how it happened	15:04	\|	Leon Rosgarten	16/01/07

20.	#15 A.M.R. Haaretz printing rumors?	15:16	\|	Johnboy	16/01/07

21.	HAARETZ: Who invents this kind of publictions in your newspaper?	15:22	\|	Vittorio	16/01/07

22.	Leak or false report	15:33	\|	Blinky	16/01/07

23.	DId anyone ask Peretz? He seems to like Syria.	16:58	\|	Bimmer	16/01/07

24.	Fritz, do note that fundamentally, the wars in which Israel was a	17:20	\|	Nadav	16/01/07

25.	Peace in our time	17:57	\|	Neville	16/01/07

26.	Haaretz retraction	18:18	\|	Michael	16/01/07

27.	Liel, Aronson & Suleiman-not rumor;sourced	18:53	\|	Steve	16/01/07

28.	Secret talks with Syria ?	19:02	\|	Giora Nevo	16/01/07

29.	Prosecute this treason! Learn from Oslo!	19:06	\|	Piranha	16/01/07

30.	Ha`aretz Articles Today	19:15	\|	Gullible Cynic	16/01/07

31.	Do people care?	19:16	\|	Sam	16/01/07

32.	Official denial from both Israel and Syria.	19:50	\|	Jake	16/01/07

33.	THE FAILED TREASONOUS 1993 OSLO ACCORDS WERE A DENIED SECRET ALSO	20:07	\|	BMT	16/01/07

34.	Gosh darnit!	21:38	\|	Naomi	16/01/07

35.	Zionist lies and chocolate pies	21:49	\|	Clickfool	16/01/07

36.	Just to point out....	22:39	\|	Johnboy	16/01/07

37.	Fritz	00:01	\|	Albert Seligman	17/01/07

38.	Peace with Syria	00:20	\|	Omran	17/01/07

39.	Akiva writes this storry and talks back using fake names	05:34	\|	Jan and Rebeca	17/01/07

40.	Peace talks?	06:05	\|	Steve	17/01/07

41.	Isn`t it about time???	13:46	\|	Steven Grumman	17/01/07

42.	#24 Nadav	15:21	\|	Johnboy	17/01/07

43.	wow syria	00:20	\|	john	15/04/07

44.	#20, #36 PETER SM, I assume?	12:46	\|	Johnboy	28/11/07

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