 Israel turned down a request from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to visit Jerusalem last year and address its parliament in a pitch for peace, an Israeli newspaper reported on Wednesday. But Syria denied the report. "It goes without saying that this is completely baseless," a Foreign Ministry official said.
| "Nope. Nope. Never happened. You must be thinkin' of some other Bashar. Maybe that guy from Sudan? Or Indonesia?" |
Israeli officials had confirmed earlier this year that Israel and Syria briefly held secret contacts in 2003 but they broke down after word of the meetings leaked out.
"If they ain't secret, we ain't havin' 'em."
"Yeah. I'm takin' my briefcase and goin' home!"
"An' take yer negotiating points, too!" |
Quoting unnamed Israeli officials, the Maariv daily said Assad signalled he was ready to come to Jerusalem in a move to revive peace talks -- which broke down in 2000 -- but that the gesture was thwarted by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office.
| "Tell him we're busy that day!" |
"Israel missed a one-off golden opportunity to resume talks with Syria under ideal conditions when Assad did not rule out a meeting with Prime Minister Sharon in Jerusalem," Maariv quoted the officials as saying.
| More likely Sharon is really screwing with Assad. |
| Yasser was still alive back then, remember. They prob'ly just didn't want to see that many buses explode at once. Think of it as a humanitarian move. |
The Maariv daily quoted Eitan Bentzur, a former diplomat who handled Syrian issues for Israel's Foreign Ministry in 2003, as saying the "contacts were very serious. It is regrettable that there were those on the Israeli side who dismissed or made light (of the offer)."
| I can see why he's a former diplomat: all carrot, no stick. |
Maariv said Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom had discussed the Assad proposal with Sharon but it was rejected by the prime minister's advisers.
"Hmmm... No, Silvan. I don't think the stew's done yet."
"How long do you think it needs?"
"'bout another year, year and a half, I'd think."
"Hokay. We'll let him stew for another year."
"Look on the bright side: maybe Yasser'll die in the meantime." |
Asked about the Maariv report, Shalom did not comment on whether Assad had requested a to visit Jerusalem, but insisted contacts held a year and and a half ago had only been "preliminary".
"I mean, I'll settle for Tel Aviv. Maybe I'll go out dancing..."
"NO! No discos! No international incidents..."
"Oh. Sorry. Maybe just for pizza, then." |
"There was one meeting with people close to Assad which was supposed to lead to higher ranks if they were to continue but they didn't because the secret talks were revealed," he told reporters. Sharon's office said it knew nothing about the Maariv report. Assad, in a recent speech, denied any secret contacts with the Jewish state and said Damascus had nothing to hide in its search for a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
| "We can't keep anything from Mossad, so why even try?" he added. |
Sharon has made clear his opposition to returning the Golan Heights taken from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. But he has voiced readiness to talk peace if Damascus cracked down first on Palestinian militants Israel says are based in Syria, and reined in Hizbollah guerrillas in nearby Lebanon. Maariv said Assad was prepared to come to Jerusalem just as late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat had in 1977 but without a secret prior undertaking from Israel to relinquish captured land as was the case in talks with Cairo. |