Posted on 10/06/2004 6:57:33 PM PDT by wagglebee
WASHINGTON - Syrian President Bashar Assad is offering to make peace with Israel and says he is ready to cooperate with the United States in stabilizing Iraq, a former senior State Department official said Wednesday. "Something is going on in Syria and it is time for us to pay attention," said Martin Indyk, assistant secretary of state for the Near East and U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Clinton administration.
In a three-hour meeting with the Syrian president last month in Damascus, Indyk said he detected a "clear change" in Assad's views on a number of fronts.
On peacemaking, Assad offered to hold talks with Israel without preconditions, Indyk said, and had made several overtures to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that the latter rebuffed.
In the past, Indyk said, Syria had insisted that any peace talks should resume where they left off during the Clinton administration - with Israel offering to give up all of the Golan Heights, a strategic area Israel won in the 1967 Mideast war.
And, Indyk said, Assad had dropped a demand that Israel reach an agreement with the Palestinians before Israel could resume negotiations with Syria.
Need to Reform
On the domestic side, Indyk said, Assad spoke "about the need to reform the government."
"It's worth watching and it is worth testing," Indyk said at a seminar at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, of which Indyk is the director.
Indyk said Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa was not at his meeting with Assad, evidence the former American diplomat said that change was under way and that al-Sharaa "and others in the old guard are being systematically silenced."
On Monday, Assad shuffled his Cabinet. Ghazi Kenaan, 62, until two years ago Syria's top intelligence general in neighboring Lebanon, was named interior minister. Al-Sharaa retained his post.
Assad switches to cooperation with U.S. over Iraq On Iraq, Assad "figured out he was on the wrong side" and has switched to cooperation with the U.S. occupation forces in the country, Indyk said.
On support for terrorism, Assad was responding to U.S. demands by moving some leaders of militant Palestinian groups out of Damascus, Indyk said.
Last month, Syria was praised publicly by Secretary of State Colin Powell for dismantling military camps in the hills near Beirut, Lebanon.
Powell told reporters after a meeting with Al-Sharaa that the redeployment of Syrian occupation forces in Lebanon was "a positive step."
At the same time, the State Department has continued to call for a crackdown on terror. And Syria remains one of seven countries branded by the department as sponsors of terror.
Thousands of Syrian troops also remain in Lebanon despite passage on September 2nd of a UN Security Council resolution calling for a withdrawal and for Syria to respect Lebanon's sovereignty.
Also, President George W. Bush's administration has accused Syria of pursuing biological and chemical weapons programs as well as nuclear weapons.
this could be surprise one.......
Hmmmmm,,,call me skeptical. Will be wonderful news if it turns out to be true.
Hasn't got a chance in he%% if sKerry is elected.
This has potential. Let's push the issue.
Nah. Do what Reagan did. Make them sweat a bit.
First Libya, now Syria has a "Come to Mohammad" moment. It's all Bush's fault!
ping
Man I hope this grows legs in the next 3 weeks. That would certainly bring on the fat lady.
But, I don't think Israel should give up the Golan, other than that, let er rip
Hold it! Wait! First we have to get the U.N. involved.
Been coming for weeks. Syria is ready to go the way of Lybia if W gets reelected. The want no part of being between Iraq and a hard place (Israel).
Trusting Iran is like trusting North Korea.....
LOL! I was gonna say that.
Ping.
It will be interesting to see what this is all about.
Yeah, that thought also crossed my mind.
bump
Yeah, there needs to a "global test" or something.
The Golan Heights, no. The Golan Meadows, maybe. Syria and Israel have much work to do in common in the area of municipal water utilities. Formal peace is just a matter of time considering the continuing Israeli demonstration of total military dominance in the region.
John Kerry, talking with foreign leaders again ...
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