[LCM Articles] Israel and Syria 'held two years of secret talks'

[Farrah Haidar]

Israel and Syria 'held two years of secret talks


Compiled by Daily Star staff 

 
Two years of secret meetings between Syrians and Israelis have produced a tentative peace plan calling for an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights and a halt to Syrian support for armed groups, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Tuesday. Syrian officials and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert dismissed the report. An Israeli official acknowledged the meetings took place, but said they were not officially sanctioned. 
According to Haaretz, the Israeli and Syrian representatives met secretly in Europe - with the full knowledge of their countries' leaders - several times between September 2004 and July 2006. 
The Israeli daily said the so-called "non-paper" that emerged from the two years of unofficial discussions proposed an Israeli pullout from the Golan to the shores of the Sea of Galilee, with Israel retaining control of its waters. A large part of the Golan would be turned into a park for joint use by Israelis and Syrians, the report said. 
According to the document, Israel would gradually evacuate Jewish settlements on the Golan Heights and the territory would be demilitarized, the newspaper said. The Syrian zone would be four times larger than the Israeli one. 
In return, Syria would cut its ties with Hizbullah and Hamas and distance itself from Iran. 
Syria requested that the withdrawal be completed in five years, while Israel asked for 15, the report said. 
The last meeting was held during the summer 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon, it said. The contacts ended when the Israelis refused a Syrian request that the talks be upgraded to official status and include a senior US official. 
Haaretz said Alon Liel, a former director general of Israel's Foreign Ministry, took part in a series of meetings from September 2004 to August 2006 with Ibrahim Suleiman, a US-based Syrian, and an unidentified European mediator. 
In remarks quoted by Israel Radio, Liel said he "did not represent anyone" in official Israeli circles when he participated in the discussions. 
Geoffrey Aronson, an American from the Washington-based Foundation for Middle East Peace, was also brought into the talks, the newspaper said. Aronson told Haaretz that "an agreement under American auspices would call for Syria to ensure that Hizbullah would limit itself to being solely a political party." 
He also said that Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' political leader, would have to leave Damascus. 
On Iraq, Syria "would also exercise its influence for a solution to the conflict" through an agreement between Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the Sunni leadership. 
Haaretz said that former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was briefed on the meetings while he was in office. Sharon's successor, Olmert, also was informed, it said. 
Officials on both sides denied the existence of back-channel talks. 
"I knew of nothing. No one in the government was involved in this matter. It was a private initiative on the part of an individual who spoke for himself," Olmert told reporters. "From what I read, his interlocutor was an eccentric from the United States, someone not serious or dignified." 
Another Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that unsanctioned talks took place. 
A Syrian Foreign Ministry official dismissed the report as "absolutely baseless," and former Syrian Information Minister Mehdi Dahkhallah branded it "an attempt by the media to improve Israel's image in the world after it refused to resume negotiations with Syria." 
Akiva Eldar, who wrote the Haaretz account, said the European go-between and Suleiman traveled to Damascus eight times and discussed the proposal with Farouk al-Sharaa, currently a Syrian vice president. 
"Walid al-Moallem, Syria's foreign minister, was present at several meetings, as well as another person - a senior general in Syrian intelligence," Eldar told Israel's Army Radio, without identifying him. 
Syria has been pressing for Israel to renew official peace talks, last held in 2000, on the future of the Golan. - Agencies
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