U.S. official calls Syria 'cruel and anti-Semitic' - Haaretz

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Wed., September 19, 2007 ,

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U.S. official calls Syria 'cruel and anti-Semitic'

By Barak Ravid

The United States is opposed to Syria attending Washington's regional peace summit in November, Israeli academics yesterday told Haaretz, based on their conversation with a senior U.S. official. The academics say the official described Syria as "a vicious, brutal regime allied to Iran strategically," which subscribes to "the most barbaric anti-Semitic views."

But after eleven days of speculations regarding an alleged Israel Air Force strike on Syria, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday that he respects Syrian President Bashar Assad and is ready, given the right conditions, to launch peace talks with Damascus.

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"I have a lot of respect for the Syrian leader and for Syrian policy. They have internal problems, but we have no reason to rule out dialogue with Syria," Olmert said in a briefing for Russian-language media outlets in Israel.

"As I've said in the past, we want to make peace with everyone," Olmert continued. "If the conditions ripen, we are ready to make peace with Syria, with no preconditions and no ultimate demands."

Since U.S. President W. George Bush's administration announced several months ago that it intends to hold the summit, Washington has not clarified its position on whether Syria should attend as well. Several officials were recently quoted as saying that the summit will be attended by countries that can "contribute" to the peace process.

The academics talked with the American after Syria announced that Israel Air Force fighter jets had violated its airspace. The Israelis told the official that Syria was interested in attending the conference and was willing to meet American demands that it offer less support for Hamas and Hezbollah as part of a comprehensive peace deal with Israel.

The academics believe that Damascus' continued diplomatic isolation could lead Syria to impede or ruin negotiations. They quote the official as saying that Syria "is allied to Iran strategically," and "engaged in helping kill Americans in Iraq, helping the worst Palestinian terrorist forces, desperate to reassert its rule over Lebanon, and sponsoring not simply anti-Zionist but the most barbaric anti-Semitic views."

According to the group of academics - who wish to remain anonymous - the high-ranking American official went on to say that Syria was intransigent in its approach, and would not comprehensively change its ways so as to participate in the peace process.

Additionally, the official reportedly informed the academics that international mediators - mostly from the European Union - have been engaged in talks with Damascus over the past months concerning the prospect of renewing peace talks with Israel. But, according to the academics, the official said the mediators "came back empty-handed."

So far, Syria has not said that it would not attend the summit, but has criticized the conference's current makeup. "The summit must include all the Middle East's concerned parties," Damascus said.

Supporting the prospect of Syrian participation are Russia, Spain, Portugal, Austria and apparently also Germany. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is also in favor of Syria's attendance and has reportedly talked about the matter with Assad a few days ago.

European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana, by contrast, supports Washington's stance. He is apparently joined by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who does not view Syria's attendance as a positive outcome.

Yoav Stern contributed to this article.

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