Posted on 02/27/2005 10:41:45 PM PST by HAL9000
Syrian, Jordanian and Israeli Foreign Ministry officials held secret peace talks in Jordan last week, an official Jordanian source told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. According to the source, technical committees from Syria and Israel were hosted at the Movenpick Hotel on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea.Another meeting is planned, but there is no date set for it yet, said the source, who added that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss possibilities for more substantive peace contacts. The Israeli Foreign Ministry had no comment on the meeting. "This is the first time I have heard of this," said Mark Regev, the ministry's spokesman.
Syrian President Bashar Assad last November invited Israel to enter peace negotiations without preconditions.
Israel dismissed the offer, saying that if Assad were serious he would crack down on Lebanon's Hizbullah organization and close the offices of terrorist organizations in Damascus. "Syria should translate words into action by shutting Palestinian offices and military bases in Damascus and stopping the relaying of missiles to Hizbullah from Iran via the Damascus airport," said Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom at that time.
Analysts say Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wants to focus on the Palestinian track but not all Israeli officials follow that view. President Moshe Katsav was quoted in Maariv following Assad's invitation as saying he thought it was "important and worthwhile" to consider Assad's offer.
Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon, Israel's outgoing chief of General Staff, said in August that Israel should take advantage of Syria's diplomatic isolation to cut the best possible deal. At the time, Ya'alon declared that Israel's military superiority means it could return the Golan Heights it conquered from Syria in 1967.
Peace negotiations between Syria and Israel began in 1994 and broke down in March 2000 over a narrow strip of land along Lake Kinneret. Assad signaled a desire to resume peace talks with Israel in an interview with The New York Times in December 2003. That offer was repeated at least five more times.
Meanwhile, another high-ranking Jordanian source said Sunday that there were "no plans" for Jordan's King Abdullah II to visit Israel, despite reports by Arab MKs who met with Jordanian Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez on Sunday.
"I'm not saying it won't happen," said the Jordanian source, "but it's not in the pipeline."
MKs Ahmed Tibi and Muhammad Dahamshe of Hadash, Wasal Taha and Jamal Zahalka of Balad, Taleb a-Sanaa and Abdul Malik Dahamshe of United Arab List, and Ghaleb Majadle of Labor met with Fayez, Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani Mulki, Jordanian Minister of Culture and Information Asma Khader, and Jordan's ambassador to Israel, Maarouf Bakhit, to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the demands of Israeli Arabs.
Bakhit took a letter from King Abdullah for Sharon stressing the deepening relations between Jordan and Israel and his plans to look into a possible visit in accordance with the invitation extended to him by Sharon in Sharm e-Sheikh last month, said the source.
Let's hope no one finds out about them and causes some kind of uproar to disrupt them, huh? Oh...
Yeah probably reason why maybe Israel been warning Syria keep eye on Hezollah or we might make Damsusus into radioactive parking lot LOL!
Balderdash.
Any good basketball fan will tell you that Movenpicks are illegal.
Ahhh yes, the location of "Sanctuary".
Visit Israel? LOL!
I hope he makes a visit to "Coffins R' Us" for a fitting before he does this.
Why should these losers get Golan Heights back?
Syria is feeling the heat.
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