Syria
Rejects Israeli Invitation To Talks
By Justin Huggler
Independent,
UK
13 January 2004
Israel has invited the Syrian President,
Bashar al-Assad, to come to Jerusalem for new peace negotiations, but
Syria has refused the offer.
President Assad
has repeatedly called for talks with Israel in recent weeks, but Syria
dismissed yesterday's invitation to Jerusalem as a "media manoeuvre".
The Syrian Expatriates
Minister, Buthaina Shaaban, said: "We need a serious response ...
A serious response is to say yes, we are interested in peace, we want
to negotiate."
For Mr Assad to
set foot in Jerusalem while its Arab eastern half, including the al-Aqsa
mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, is under Israeli occupation
and there is no peace deal with the Palestinians would be to overturn
half a century of Syrian rhetoric - a move he was unlikely to make for
no more than a vague promise of talks.
But for Israelis,
the parallel was to the former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, who accepted
an Israeli invitation to Jerusalem in 1977 - a visit which paved the
way to 1979's historic peace deal with Egypt.
For decades, Israelis
have talked of one day being able to drive to Damascus for lunch, as
they now flock to Egypt's Sinai coast in hundreds to catch the summer
sun. It seems the lunch in Damascus will have to wait a while yet.
None the less, there
are signs that Mr Assad is serious about wanting new negotiations on
peace with Israel in exchange for the return of the Golan Heights, occupied
by Israel since 1967. The Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
who met the Syrian President recently, summoned the Israeli ambassador
to tell him Mr Assad was in earnest.
The Israeli Prime
Minister, Ariel Sharon, told a recent cabinet meeting that he believed
President Assad was willing to forgo the coast of the Sea of Galilee,
on which his late father, Hafez al-Assad, refused to compromise at the
last talks, which broke down four years ago.
But Mr Sharon has
also expressed scepticism about Mr Assad's intentions, and said that
there will be no progress on peace talks until Syria clamps down on
the activities of Palestinian militants on its territory, and reins
in the Lebanese Hizbollah militia on Israel's northern border.
Mr Assad is believed
to want new talks with Israel because he is coming under increasing
pressure from the US, which has voted in tough sanctions against Syria.
Having opposed the US in the Iraq war, and with American troops now
on his doorstep, Mr Assad badly needs some credit in Washington.
Yesterday's invitation
for Mr Assad to visit Jerusalem came not from Mr Sharon but from the
Israeli President, Moshe Katsav. Mr Katsav has little political power
- his role is largely ceremonial. There has been intense debate in Israel
over whether Mr Sharon is right to spurn Syria's advances, and President
Katsav may have acted on his own initiative.
But the invitation
may have been a ploy agreed with Mr Sharon to test how far Mr Assad
would go - or even to quieten the debate at home by offering him an
invitation he was unlikely to accept.
Many Israelis have
begun to cool towards the idea of peace with Syria in recent years.
When Israel was still mired in Lebanon, peace with Syria offered a way
out. The northern front is no longer so pressing.
Syria has always
insisted that it will only agree to peace if Israel agrees to return
all of the Golan Heights - and many Israelis have begun to question
whether it is a price they are willing to pay. The Golan contains the
best vineyards for Israel's wine industry, and Israel's only ski resort.