................US envoy George Mitchell with AssadSeptember 16, 2010
Envoy Mitchell flies to Syria for talks with Assad
DAMASCUS, The US special envoy George Mitchell arrives in Damascus today for talks with the Syrian president Bashar Assad.
The visit is being viewed as a sign that Washington is seeking to engage Syria more deeply in the Middle East peace process.
While Israel and the Palestinian Authority have renewed direct talks, Syria and Israel remain technically at war and are not involved in negotiations, even indirectly.
Mr Mitchell was in Egypt this week when the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, held their second round of face-to-face discussions since talks reopened in Washington a fortnight ago.
After meeting Mr Assad today Mr Mitchell is expected to travel to Lebanon for discussions there.
His visit to Syria comes three days after Claude Cousseran, a French presidential envoy, came to Damascus in an effort to restart Syrian-Israel negotiations.
The last set of indirect talks, mediated by Turkey, broke down in 2009 when Israel launched an assault on Gaza.
Mr Assad told the French representative his country remained committed to peace but that it was “hard to imagine” a deal being struck in light of Israel’s policies.
He reiterated the need for a “just and comprehensive” settlement and said Turkey had a key role to play in bringing that about.
Relations between Ankara and Israel have been openly hostile since May, when Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish activists in a raid on an aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip.
Israel illegally occupies the Golan Heights, Syrian territory that it took over in 1967 before formally annexing it in 1981, in contravention of international law. Previous peace talks between Syria and Israel, arranged by the US, collapsed over Israel’s refusal to return all of the land.
More recent efforts to bring the two parties to the table have failed to get past the first hurdle. Syria insists Israel must commit to withdrawing from the entire Golan Heights before discussions can resume, while Israel says talks can begin only without pre-conditions.
Syria has not opposed the current round of peace talks, brokered by the Quartet – the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations – but has warned they will fail without the involvement of all Palestinian factions.
Hamas, the Islamic resistance group that controls the Gaza Strip, has said it will refuse to recognise the outcome of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. The Hamas leader, Khalid Meshaal, who is based in Syria, has called the talks “illegitimate”.
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100916/FOREIGN/709159807/1002
Envoy Mitchell flies to Syria for talks with Assad
DAMASCUS, The US special envoy George Mitchell arrives in Damascus today for talks with the Syrian president Bashar Assad.
The visit is being viewed as a sign that Washington is seeking to engage Syria more deeply in the Middle East peace process.
While Israel and the Palestinian Authority have renewed direct talks, Syria and Israel remain technically at war and are not involved in negotiations, even indirectly.
Mr Mitchell was in Egypt this week when the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, held their second round of face-to-face discussions since talks reopened in Washington a fortnight ago.
After meeting Mr Assad today Mr Mitchell is expected to travel to Lebanon for discussions there.
His visit to Syria comes three days after Claude Cousseran, a French presidential envoy, came to Damascus in an effort to restart Syrian-Israel negotiations.
The last set of indirect talks, mediated by Turkey, broke down in 2009 when Israel launched an assault on Gaza.
Mr Assad told the French representative his country remained committed to peace but that it was “hard to imagine” a deal being struck in light of Israel’s policies.
He reiterated the need for a “just and comprehensive” settlement and said Turkey had a key role to play in bringing that about.
Relations between Ankara and Israel have been openly hostile since May, when Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish activists in a raid on an aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip.
Israel illegally occupies the Golan Heights, Syrian territory that it took over in 1967 before formally annexing it in 1981, in contravention of international law. Previous peace talks between Syria and Israel, arranged by the US, collapsed over Israel’s refusal to return all of the land.
More recent efforts to bring the two parties to the table have failed to get past the first hurdle. Syria insists Israel must commit to withdrawing from the entire Golan Heights before discussions can resume, while Israel says talks can begin only without pre-conditions.
Syria has not opposed the current round of peace talks, brokered by the Quartet – the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations – but has warned they will fail without the involvement of all Palestinian factions.
Hamas, the Islamic resistance group that controls the Gaza Strip, has said it will refuse to recognise the outcome of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. The Hamas leader, Khalid Meshaal, who is based in Syria, has called the talks “illegitimate”.
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100916/FOREIGN/709159807/1002
