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Syrians: Talks focusing on '67 border, timetable By Avi Issacharoff and Yoav Stern The Israeli-Syrian talks in Turkey have focused on determining where the June 4, 1967 border lay and setting a timetable for the peace process, Syrian sources told the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat yesterday. The sources said there had been no debate over the fact that the withdrawal would be to the 1967 lines, and not to the official international border, as Israel had at one time demanded. Advertisement "Syria will not take a single step forward in the process with Israel if it is not assured of getting the entire Golan back," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem told the paper. Separately, Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal said yesterday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had given the Turks a written commitment that the entire Golan would be returned to Syria following an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines. Responding to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's demand that Syria stop supporting anti-Israel terrorist groups, Bilal said that Damascus has never concealed its support for Hezbollah and various Palestinian organizations, and that demanding that it stop this support amounts to setting preconditions for the talks, which is unacceptable. Al-Hayat also reported that a few days ago, following U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Israel, the Turks informed Damascus that Bush had no objection to the talks, paving the way for them to be made public. Meanwhile, Syrian intellectuals and commentators responded to news of the talks yesterday with unusually moderate statements about Israel. Traditionally, Syrian intellectuals have adopted a hard line against Israel. But author and poet Shawki Baghdadi, for instance, told the BBC: "I have always rejected any relations with Israel, it was a declared war until we won back our rights. But when I saw that Arab states were normalizing their relations with Israel, I started to think of peace. Today, I think we need to accept peace with Israel and to transfer our military battle to the cultural and civil sphere." He added that some of the money Syria now spends on its military should be diverted to education, development and welfare. Similarly, writer Akram Antaki told the BBC that Syria must recognize that Israel is a reality. "We should reach a compromise, but it should be a real peace between Syria and Israel," he said. "We cannot continue fighting forever without any goal." Dr. Samir Taqi, a political analyst and head of the Al-Sharq Center for Strategic Studies, also sounded an upbeat note in a BBC interview. "If we embark on a serious approach toward the Syrian-Israeli track, the general trend in the region would be toward peace," he said. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Jet error Israeli warplanes come close to shooting down Tony Blair's plane. Rehab (live) Report: Singer Amy Winehouse is to undergo drug rehab in Israel.

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