Syria Rejects Secret "Israel" Talks

Source: Alalam TV, 21-04-2008
DAMASCUS--Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has unambiguously declared he is against holding secret talks with the Israeli occupying regime, despite behind-the-scenes mediation efforts.
Assad was quoted as telling a meeting of the ruling Baath Party's command on Sunday that "there are efforts being made in this direction and they are not new. The 'Israeli' side knows full well what Syria would or would not accept".
However, he said Syria rejects secret talks with the occupying regime and anything Syrian official did in this regard would be in front of the public opinion.
The Syrian News Agency quoted Assad as saying: "The standard for accepting negotiations is their seriousness and conformity to United Nations resolutions."
Negotiations between the two countries collapsed in 2000 over the scope of a proposed 'Israeli' withdrawal from the Golan Heights, occupied by the 'Israeli' regime in 1967.
International attempts to persuade Syria and 'Israel' to resume talks foundered with the two sides attaching conditions to a return to the negotiating table.
Syria wants the 'Israeli' regime to commit to a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights and prefers the US, Israel's chief ally, to oversee the talks.
On the other side, 'Israel' wants Syria's ties with Lebanon's Hizbullah and the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement Hamas to be on the agenda.
An Israeli minister said last month that the regime was trying to revive peace talks with Syria and Zionist Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hinted at clandestine talks.
In 2006, Swiss diplomats helped mediate in unofficial talks between the 'Israelis' and Syrians and draw up a plan focusing on an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.
Tension between Syria and' Israel' has risen since, with the occupying regime launching a raid on a Syrian military facility last year that prompted no retaliation from Syria.