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President Shimon Peres giving an interview in Jerusalem last month. (Alon Ron)
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Last update - 11:07 19/09/2007
Peres: Tensions with Syria have subsided, we're ready for talks
By Yossi Melman and Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondents and AP

In an indirect reference on Tuesday to the Israeli air incursion over Syria on September 6, President Shimon Peres said that tensions between Syria and Israel have subsided and that Israel is ready for direct peace negotiations with Syria. (For more, click here to watch Haaretz.com TV)

"I do believe the nervousness in the relationship between Syria and ourselves is over," Peres told foreign journalists. "Why go back to rumors and speculation when we say clearly we are ready to negotiate directly with the Syrians for peace."

Peres made the comments at an event at the President's Residence marking the 50th anniversary of Israel's Foreign Press Association.

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Meanwhile, another indication that tensions with Syria have quieted somewhat is the fact that the Israel Defense Forces have announced that a round of officer appointments, suspended due to the rise in tensions, would resume. The appointments were halted about a month before the September 6 incident, due to fears of a possible war with Syria during the summer.

On Tuesday, Brigadier General Imad Fares was appointed commander of the Galilee division (division 91). He is replacing Brigadier General Yossi Becher, who will return to his previous position of chief infantry and paratrooper officer. Becher was originally named commander of division 91 when Brigadier General Gal Hirsch quit the IDF following criticism of his performance during the Second Lebanon War. Becher's appointment was a temporary one, and the position is now being manned permanently.

By the end of October, Deputy Chief of Staff Major General Moshe Kaplinsky will also step down. Kaplinsky made a surprise announcement in August that he would remain in his position longer than anticipated, presumably because of fears that a war would break out. Replacing Kaplinsky will be Major General Dan Harel.

Despite the resumption of the appointments, the tensions have not completely dissipated. The IDF is still under high alert in the Golan Heights. Military sources have said that the danger of imminent war with Syria has lessened, but there is a reasonable chance that Syria will choose to respond in some alternate way to the September 6 incident. One of the possibilities raising fears among Israel's defense establishment is that Syria may encourage terrorist groups to carry out attacks against Israeli targets in Israel and abroad.

In a related development, Syria and North Korea denied on Tuesday claims that they are cooperating on a Syrian nuclear program. Both accused U.S. officials of spreading the accusations for political reasons - either to back Israel or to block progress on a deal between Washington and Pyongyang.

The two countries spoke out amid widespread speculation over the Israel Air Force operation in Syria two weeks ago, in which U.S. officials have said Israeli warplanes struck a target.

Details of the raid remain unclear, with Israel remaining silent. Syria has said no airstrike took place and that warplanes violated its airspace and dropped munitions to lighten their load as they fled Syrian air defenses.

American and Israeli sources say the Israeli government informed the Bush administration of the planned raid in Syria shortly before the attack, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

It remains unclear whether the Americans expressed support for the raid or were opposed to it. Nor is it known whether U.S. intelligence agencies shared the Israeli assessments regarding the facility targeted. According to the newspaper report, some officials questioned Syria's financial and scientific ability to initiate a nuclear program.

Last week, a senior U.S. non-proliferation official said Syria was believed to be approaching secret suppliers for nuclear technology and that North Korean personnel were in the country, raising theories that the Israelis were targeting a nuclear installation.

A Syrian Cabinet minister ridiculed the speculation on Tuesday. "All this rubbish is not true. I don't know how their imagination has reached such creativity," Bouthaina Shaaban said of the reports of Syrian-North Korean nuclear cooperation.

She said the reports - including ones of a recent North Korean shipment to Syria - were all "fabricated stories which have no value and truth."

"Regretfully, the international press is busy justifying an aggression on a sovereign state and the world should be busy condemning it instead of inventing reasons and aims of this aggression," Shaaban told Lebanon's Hezbollah television station Al-Manar.

North Korea on Tuesday also strongly denied it secretly helped Syria develop a nuclear program, claiming the charge was fabricated by U.S. hardliners to block progress in North Korea's relations with the U.S.

The North Korean foreign ministry said the suspicions "are nothing but a clumsy plot fabricated again by dishonest forces who do not want to see progress in the six-party talks and in the (North Korea)-U.S. relations."

The Syrian state-run newspaper Tishrin said in an editorial on Tuesday that the U.S. was fomenting the accusations to excuse Israel's incursion. It compared them to American claims in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq that then-leader Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction.

The accusations against Syria recall those false claims that the Americans and the British circulated about Iraq's nuclear programs, the paper, which reflects Syrian government thinking, said in a front-page editorial.

It said Washington's blatant bias toward Israel has hurt - and continues to hurt - the image the U.S. and its role of justice, fairness and the preservation of international peace.
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  1.   This man is senile. look at the face. And dangerous 23:38  |  Ralph 18/09/07
  2.   Your IDF just bombed N. Korean, and you want to talk.. 23:41  |  Moran chiloni 18/09/07
  3.   What politic is this? a joke!! 23:51  |  Moise 18/09/07
  4.   Amazing roller coaster ride. 23:53  |  Omran 18/09/07
  5.   Irresponsible Double talk 00:39  |  Dr. Dave 19/09/07
  6.   All Hysterical 01:47  |  Paul 19/09/07
  7.   Israel notified 02:08  |  Paul 19/09/07
  8.   Dr Dave 02:10  |  wally 19/09/07
  9.   Raid on Syria 02:51  |  william 19/09/07
  10.   A failed aerial attack,so they drop their munitions and flee 02:51  |  lakshmi 19/09/07
  11.   The rap of the Syrian strike 03:14  |  Fortuna Benmayor 19/09/07
  12.   The Truth... 03:48  |  BamBoo 19/09/07
  13.   Phoney Intelligence Reports and the Big Lie 06:05  |  Natallie Durson 19/09/07
  14.   #1 He is not senile, just as two faced as he has always been 06:16  |  L A 19/09/07
  15.   Natalie durson #13 07:21  |  JewishHeart 19/09/07
  16.   agree with natalie 07:32  |  zac 19/09/07
  17.   Paul # 7 07:39  |  Philippe 19/09/07
  18.   Paul # 6 07:44  |  Philippe 19/09/07
  19.   The Mere Presence of Facts 08:08  |  Double Click 19/09/07
  20.   #16, zac 08:28  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 19/09/07
  21.   #10 Lakshmi 08:45  |  Jasmine Murphy 19/09/07
  22.   He has an exceptional gift for nonsense 09:56  |  Rowan Berkeley 19/09/07
  23.   Everyone ready for the pan-Asian war? 10:19  |  Michael 19/09/07
  24.   what a great president 10:26  |  lakshmi 19/09/07
  25.   have you noticed how peres has a bon mot for every occasion? 10:28  |  lakshmi 19/09/07
  26.   can you believe that a previous pm of india 10:30  |  lakshmi 19/09/07
  27.   the trouble with india 10:34  |  lakshmi 19/09/07
  28.   mark lincoln the attack on syria was a success 10:38  |  lev 19/09/07
  29.   natallie durson there is no need to justify 10:49  |  lev 19/09/07
  30.   Peres - ready for talks 10:49  |  JACK 19/09/07
  31.   do you know natallie durson that no one reads books 10:51  |  lev 19/09/07
  32.   natallie durson apart from africa 10:54  |  lev 19/09/07
  33.   Peres - ready for talks ??????????? 11:00  |  JACK 19/09/07
  34.   Natalie & Phony Intelligence 11:03  |  David 19/09/07
  35.   Peres is wolf in sheep clothes 11:11  |  MA 19/09/07
  36.   may i take this opportunity to thank israel 11:13  |  lakshmi 19/09/07
  37.   i am puzzled about this crazy lakshmi 11:33  |  suraj uh dowlah 19/09/07
  38.   for Cipora about Israeli hitech 11:36  |  Jasmine Murphy 19/09/07
  39.   #20 Still demanding that Syria prove a negative, Cipora? 11:46  |  Johnboy 19/09/07
  40.   SYRIA STLL RESERVES THE RIGHT TO RESPOND 11:53  |  Kamikaz 19/09/07
  41.   Who is the real lakshmi? 11:55  |  MA 19/09/07
  42.   War and Peace,Carrots and Peas 11:59  |  Ronnie Wolman 19/09/07
  43.   Lookin more and more like an OOPS!! moment 12:01  |  Johnboy 19/09/07
  44.   its true there is no fool like an old fool 12:10  |  victor hardman 19/09/07
  45.   40 KAMIMAZ DON`T GET AHEAD OF YOURSELF 12:30  |  JON FEIGENBAUM 19/09/07
  46.   Lakshmi, do you hate India? #26 12:51  |  Jonathan S 19/09/07
  47.   Advice to Kamikaz #40 12:57  |  Briton 19/09/07
  48.   #43, and yet more hee haw from JB 13:18  |  Danny - Israeli one 19/09/07
  49.   #10, that is a truely heroic interpretation 13:31  |  Danny - Israeli one 19/09/07
  50.   Ronnie Wolman 13:51  |  GABE1 19/09/07
  51.   What`s the excitement?! 13:57  |  Esther 19/09/07
  52.   "who is the real lakshmi" 14:11  |  lakshmi 19/09/07
  53.   #48 Danny`s bile continues to rise 14:15  |  Johnboy 19/09/07
  54.   jonathan s "do you hate india" 14:15  |  lakshmi 19/09/07
  55.   For Natallie #13 and JewishHeart #15 14:18  |  Esther 19/09/07
  56.   #43 videogameboy pouting 14:21  |  peter 19/09/07
  57.   i love the jews 14:24  |  lakshmi 19/09/07
  58.   #53, my bile is fine thanks 15:27  |  Danny - Israeli one 19/09/07
  59.   Senior Citizens and Old Fools 15:28  |  Tony Anthony 19/09/07
  60.   How this scoundrel thrives,building career on his Oslo disaster 16:05  |  Absolute Sweden 19/09/07
  61.   Better make that wall a little higher 18:05  |  Abbas 19/09/07
  62.   Does Dick Cheney care about Israel? 18:05  |  MGLoraine 19/09/07
  63.   Syria has no choices literally 18:40  |  Paul 19/09/07
  64.   Martian hitech (Cipora J Cone; yesterday) 19:27  |  Tosefta 19/09/07
  65.   Too bad Peres is irrelevant 19:36  |  Tosefta 19/09/07
  66.   Tosefta: Cipora`s hitech trumps yours anyday 20:05  |  Jasmine Murphy 19/09/07
  67.   #64, maybe a little more reading and little less sarcasm 20:35  |  Danny - Israeli one 19/09/07
  68.   Suggestion to a scholar (Jasmine Murphy #66) 21:05  |  Tosefta 19/09/07
  69.   Dangerous to know just a little bit (Danny the Israeli #67) 21:23  |  Tosefta 19/09/07
  70.   tosefta on peres 22:01  |  zion 19/09/07
  71.   As The World Turns (complete with Duncan Hines commercials) 22:15  |  Jacob Blues 19/09/07
  72.   Satallite orbits 22:20  |  Jacob Blues 19/09/07
  73.   #69, apparently it is even worse to post in haste 22:28  |  Danny - Israeli one 19/09/07
  74.   we are ready to talk 22:33  |  iletzter 19/09/07
  75.   Jasmine Murphy 23:25  |  Mark Lincoln 19/09/07
  76.   Tosefta, orbital mechanics and imaging resolution 23:31  |  Mark Lincoln 19/09/07
  77.   #58 No, Dany, it smells pretty rancid from here 23:38  |  Johnboy 19/09/07
  78.   Simon Peres should focus on Iran 23:44  |  The Director 19/09/07