US: Syria and Israel Must Talk; Syrian FM Praises Ahmadinejad
Israel must sit down and talk with Syria to resolve differences and work for peace, the U.S. State Department said in response to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s recent statements that the Israeli government cannot sit down with a government that backs Iran, Hizbullah and Hamas.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood, in response to a reporter’s question, declared, “Obviously, at some point, the two parties need to sit down and resolve their differences. There needs to be peace between Israel and Syria. The question on when talks go forward, that’s going to really be up to the parties. We want to see that happen. In terms of when they sit down actually, that’s something that’s going to have to be worked out."
Two days earlier, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem praised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the Durban II conference on racism. "A large proportion of public opinion in the Arab world supports the words of the Iranian president," Muallem stated in a press conference.
He added that Arabs “should not be turned into victims of a Holocaust which they did not commit. It should not serve as a pretext for the Israelis to commit a Holocaust in Palestine, Gaza, the West Bank or Lebanon."
In his speech last week at the opening of the partially-boycotted Durban II conference in Geneva, Ahmadinejad labeled the Israeli government "the most cruel and repressive racist regime." He criticized the creation of a "totally racist government" and accused the Western world of ”sending migrants from Europe and the United States in order to establish a racist government in the occupied Palestine."
The United States, Canada, Germany, Holland, Australia, New Zealand and Italy were among the countries who boycotted the entire Durban II conference.
Twenty-three European Union delegations walked out in protest the speech, but all other delegates, including U.N. secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, remained in their seats.
PrintLieberman Rules Out Talks with ‘Terror Backer‘ Syria
Syria cannot be a partner in peace talks with Israel so long as it backs Iran and terrorist groups, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu) told the German-language newspaper Zeitung.
His declaration officially reverses the policy of immediate past Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who established indirect negotiations with Syria on the basis that direct talks would take place if Damascus were to cut ties with terrorist groups.
He also reiterated the campaign pledge of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that the Golan Heights is not negotiable. Olmert, who once took a similar stand, did not rule out handing the area over to Syria, which made surrender of the strategic Golan a condition for peace with the Jewish state.
"We need to look at the reality,” Lieberman told Zeiting. “Until today, Syria is hosting the headquarters of terror organizations such as Hamas and the [Islamic] Jihad. Syria supports Hizbullah and its arms trafficking into southern Lebanon. Syria supports Iran's nuclear program. That is why I cannot see in Syria a real partner for any type of agreement," Lieberman said.
Concerning the Palestinian Authority, he called on the international community to continue to fund the Ramallah-based government in order to promote economic security “to convince [them] that they have a better future ahead of them and that a peaceful resolution would improve their lives.”
Foreign Minister Lieberman also downplayed the chances of Israel carrying out a military attack on Iran to halt or destroy its nuclear program. "The most effective way is to impose very harsh sanctions. “We are not talking about a military strike. Israel cannot solve a global problem militarily.”
The Foreign Minister has carefully chosen his interviews with media since taking office less than a month ago. His first interview with an Israeli newspaper was the English language Jerusalem Post, which is to publish the full report this week.
Following the Knesset election in February and before the formation of the Netanyahu-led coalition, he selected the New York Jewish Week as a venue for an article on his proposal for a loyalty oath.
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