Breaking News"US secretly talking to Damascus about Israel-Syria peace" By JPOST.COM STAFF
01/01/2011 11:23
Photo by: AP Kuwaiti paper 'Al-Rai' reports Syrian officials told Dennis Ross they are prepared to distance themselves from Iran,
Hizbullah and Hamas. The US has been secretly communicating with Syrian officials in recent weeks in hopes of
brokering a comprehensive peace agreement between Syria and Israel, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai reported on Saturday.
Sources told Al-Rai that the US was contacted by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem with the message that Syria
was ready to renew dialogue with the Israelis and reach a peace deal.
The Obama administration believes peace between Israel and Syria would constitute a breakthrough that would help
kick-start stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, according to the sources.
The Al-Rai report added that senior adviser to US President Barack Obama, Dennis Ross, said that
the Syrians are
prepared to distance themselves from Iran, Hizbullah and Hamas and cooperate with the US in the war on terrorism.
The Israelis in return have expressed willingness to return the Golan Heights to Syria, reach an agreement on water
rights and immediately normalize relations with Damascus.
Ross recently visited Israel, exerting pressure on the government to make concessions either on the Palestinian-Israel
track or the Syrian-Israel track, according to the report.
The paper quotes US sources as saying Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has put Defense Minister Ehud Barak in
charge of the negotiations. If there is a breakthrough in negotiations, Netanyahu will publicly announce them and
if negotiations fail he can distance himself from the process and place the blame on Barak and the US, the sources said.
The sudden breakthrough in relations with
Syria was responsible for US President Barack Obama's Wednesday decision to bypass the Senate and appoint Robert Ford to be the first US ambassador to Damascus since 2005, according to
the report.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=201756
