Syria ready for direct talks

Abu Dhabi: Syrian officials are willing to negotiate directly with their Israeli counterparts to discuss a peace deal, President Bashar Al Assad said here on Monday, but he stressed that "previous experiences" with Israel were "not encouraging."

"Syria is not against direct negotiations. We have agreed to them since the [1991] Madrid Middle East Peace Conference... whenever the atmosphere was appropriate for direct negotiations," Bashar told Gulf News.

"Success of the negotiations depends on the Israeli side and is related to the capability of the Israeli government and its stability to achieve this success," he said, highlighting the legal problems faced by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, which could see him stepping down.

"We have explained our vision for peace and are waiting for the Israeli response. However, our earlier experience in negotiations with Israel was not encouraging, and what Syria is doing now is making sure that Israel is ready for peace," Bashar said at a meeting with senior journalists on the second day of his visit to the UAE. He will leave today for Kuwait.

Bashar said his recent visits are also aimed at "informing the Arab brothers on the latest developments regarding the indirect Syrian-Israeli negotiations."

Negotiators from both countries are in Turkey, which is mediating between them. "There are no direct talks at this stage," the Syrian president said.

"We believe indirect negotiations are sufficient at this stage as we are still negotiating to find a common ground. [But] we are willing to move to direct negotiations once this is reached," he said.

Atomic energy

He said Syria will not offer concessions over the 1967 territories. He said Damascus was negotiating on the basis of the Arab peace initiative, which calls for full Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands occupied in the 1967 war in return for full normalisation.

The Arab initiative is based on the Madrid conference's land for peace principles, he said.

Bashar, meanwhile, strongly denied American and Israeli reports that suggested a site bombed by Israeli planes last year was a secret nuclear facility developed by North Korea.

"If anyone had a secret dossier on nuclear facilities in Syria with a Korean role, as they claim, then why did they wait for seven months before destroying a normal military facility by the Israeli raid? Why did they not resort to the UN nuclear energy organisation to carry out an inspection?" he asked.

"Acquiring nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is an international trend that all countries are rightfully pursuing. In Syria, we want this to be done within an Arab context, which was discussed and agreed during the Arab Summit in Riyadh."