Syria, Israel May Resume Peace Talks

The Syrian press reported this week that Israel is prepared to withdraw from the Golan Heights as part of a peace deal with Syria.



Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called President Bashar al-Assad on April 22 to inform him that Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert is prepared to return the Golan Heights to Syria, Al-Watan newspaper reported the following day. Dunia, a Syrian TV channel, reported that Erdogan would lead a mediation effort, and that he was due in Damascus on April 26to attend an business conference.



President Assad told the central Baath party committee in a speech on April 20 that “friends” were mediating to help restart the negotiations with Israel. According to Al-Watan, which is close to the Syrian government, Assad said Damascus would not engage in secret negotiations with Israel and pledged that details of any prospective peace deal would be made public.



Assad said Syria and Israel had reached agreement on most issues before the then Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak pulled out of talks in 2000. The negotiations fell apart after Israel refused to include part of the Sea of Galilee as part of the Golan Heights. Assad insisted that a peace deal must include the return of all the Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since 1967.



Separately, Syria accused Israel of practicing “racial fanaticism and intolerance” after the authorities there confiscated the identity cards of 19 students from the Golan Heights, Syria News reported on April 19.



The students had completed their studies at universities in Syria and had returned to the Golan with Syrian ID cards.