Region | Palestinian Territories
Syria-Israel talks wrap up with deal to meet again
Syria and Israel on Monday ended a second round of Turkey-mediated peace talks with an agreement to continue negotiations, officials said.
- Agencies
- Published: 20:49 June 16, 2008
Ankara: Syria and Israel on Monday ended a second round of Turkey-mediated peace talks with an agreement to continue negotiations, officials said.
Israeli and Turkish officials, who described the two-day talks as positive and constructive, said Israel and Syria agreed on dates for holding a third and fourth round of negotiations.
A senior Israeli government official said the talks would take place in the "coming weeks" and would continue to be conducted through Turkish mediation, rather than direct.
Israeli officials said the possibility of a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Syrian President Bashar Al Assad was not part of the negotiations.
Olmert and Assad are expected to attend a July 13 summit of a new union of European and Mediterranean countries in Paris.
An Israeli source said French President Nicolas Sarkozy was trying to arrange a three-way meeting but had not yet received final confirmation from Damascus.
The last direct talks between Israel and Syrian delegates stalled in 2000 in a dispute over how much of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in a 1967 war, should go back to Syria. Damascus is firm in demanding all the Golan.
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