Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., December 28, 2007 Tevet 19, 5768 | | Israel Time: 21:49 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File Magazine

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (L) and Syrian President Bashar Assad. (Flash 90 / Reuters Archives) del.icio.us Digg It!  new Last update - 04:21 26/12/2007 Olmert to Assad: Israel awaits your response on reviving talks By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: U.S., Syria, Israel  Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sent Syrian President Bashar Assad a message Tuesday, saying Israel is still awaiting an answer from Damascus on the possibility of reviving peace talks. Olmert met with United States Senator Arlen Specter and gave him the message, which will be delivered to Assad when Specter meets with the Syrian president on Thursday. Specter, a Jewish Republican from Pennsylvania, is considered one of his party's biggest supporters of reviving the dialogue with Syria. The senator told Olmert during their meeting that he intends to meet with senior officials in the Syrian regime, and asked whether the prime minister would be interested in advancing the diplomatic process with Damascus. Advertisement Olmert told Specter that he has been examining in recent months the possibility of restarting mediated negotiations with Syria. "I am still examining the Syrian track and Damascus' seriousness," said the prime minister. "I have not finished examining the issue, but I have yet to receive a clear answer [from Syria] and am therefore still waiting." Jerusalem sources said that "despite the fact that Olmert did not explicitly request that the message be transferred to Assad, we assume that the issue will be raised in his [Specter's] talks in Damascus. It was obvious that this was his intention." According to a Foreign Ministry intelligence assessment presented Monday, Syria is waiting out the Bush presidency, and only intends to enter a serious diplomatic process with Israel when the next United States administration takes over in 2009. "Damascus is interested in an agreement with Israel, but only according to Syria's conditions and with American involvement," Nimrod Barkan, who heads the ministry's political research department, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday. Barkan added that the U.S. twice tried to "open a door for Syria" in 2007, but Damascus failed to meet the administration's demands regarding its continued involvement in Lebanon. According to Barkan, Syria does not believe it can make progress in negotiations with Israel as long as Bush is in the White House, and therefore wants to wait until the end of his term, in hopes that the next administration will be willing to reengage Damascus and give the peace process its blessing. Related articles: Foreign Ministry: Syria feels peace must wait for next U.S. president Attempt to exchange messages between Israel and Syria fails U.S. envoy denies pressure on Israel not to engage in talks with Syria Bookmark to del.icio.us Who shot Bhutto? Conspiracy theories over the assassination of the Pakistani opposition leader abound. Obama and Israel Israelis following the U.S. elections are not clear on Obama's approach.   1.   I wonder if Assad will say the same as Lebanon`s P.M. 21:39  |  Conroy 25/12/07   2.   re: Conroy 21:50  |  Paulo 25/12/07   3.   #2 Paulo`s all exicted and is very selective on his "facts" 22:18  |  Conroy 25/12/07   4.   Paulo 22:27  |  Albert Seligman 25/12/07   5.   olmert and assad 22:30  |  geroge 25/12/07   6.   re: Conroy again... 22:32  |  Sam 25/12/07   7.   Shameful 22:39  |  Sam 25/12/07   8.   Seriously 22:39  |  Joseph 25/12/07   9.   Syria is as interested in peace as a rat is in learning another 23:15  |  Chick 25/12/07   10.   Olmert, go to Damascus and get the response in person 23:05  |  Pablo B 25/12/07   11.   to #6 Sam 23:22  |  Chcik 25/12/07   12.   #1, CONROY, HALF FACTS and BS 01:07  |  VIPER 26/12/07   13.   It was just weeks ago 01:28  |  Mark Lincoln 26/12/07   14.   Pablo B - yup 01:32  |  Mark Lincoln 26/12/07   15.   Syria and Israel! 01:37  |  GK 26/12/07   16.   No. 3 02:48  |  Sakura One 26/12/07   17.   No. 11 02:57  |  Sakura One 26/12/07   18.   traitor olmert,now crawling on all fours,to lick asad`s boots 03:10  |  chaim schonbrun 26/12/07   19.   al-Assad trying to see who can give him a better deal 03:16  |  Marwan مروان خوري 26/12/07   20.   Meeting with the Butcher 03:18  |  Brod 26/12/07   21.   Pablo B is wrong 03:29  |  christoph 26/12/07   22.   #6 Sam, you`re Lebanese so I have some questions for you 05:10  |  Conroy 26/12/07   23.   12 Viper told me to bugger off LMAO 05:16  |  Conroy 26/12/07   24.   #2 Paulo 05:41  |  Conroy 26/12/07   25.   #19, Marwan, you are right 05:50  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 26/12/07   26.   Olmert-Assad Explore Skullduggery Skills to Milk the U$ Cow 06:53  |  Joseph E . 26/12/07   27.   Sam 08:44  |  Jasmine Murphy 26/12/07   28.   Conroy: the Litani; Albert and kidnapping 18:29  |  Angela 26/12/07   29.   Okay Angela I did my research; see below for results 21:32  |  Conroy 26/12/07   30.   Conroy: The Litani and Israel 22:46  |  Angela 26/12/07   31.   The wall, moron. You built the Wall in his court. Not the ball 23:24  |  John 26/12/07   32.   Assad just likes Shesh Besh 05:10  |  Fortuna Benmayor 27/12/07   33.   olmert adn reliability 20:59  |  marcel 27/12/07   34.   Israel must not be seen as refusing peace 20:54  |  Arie Raif 28/12/07

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