UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered on Monday to facilitate any future peace talks between Israel and Syria, which the United States has shunned. Ban, was responding to comments by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week that he was "ready for direct talks" with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over the occupied Golan Heights.Facilitation, in diplomatic language, means helping the parties to get together rather than mediating. "It is encouraging that Israel has expressed the willingness to talk with the Syrian president and all other regional players," Ban said told a news conference. "I would be happy to facilitate such peace initiatives."
A new country has begun mediating between Israel and Damascus, Syrian President Bashar Assad said on Tuesday. "There were delegations here which brought messages from the Israeli prime minister, saying that he wants peace. One even came here during the war. We said that this is a positive thing, but our stance is that we do not support secret negotiations. What is required from the Israeli officials is an official statement that they want peace," he added.
In a speech which dealt with the possibilities for negotiations rather than with threats, Syrian president revealed that "there is one party, which we are proud of, which has begun mediating in the past few weeks and got into the thick of things. The Israeli prime minister said that he wants peace and this is a good thing, but it's not enough. "We are waiting for the conditions to mature for a Syrian official to go to that country, not in order to meet with an Israeli official, but in order to talk to this country. If there is progress, I will stand up and say it. I will not hide."
According to one estimation, the country Assad was referring to was Turkey. Assad made the remarks in a speech to the Syrian parliament after being sworn in for a second time for a seven-year term. But his foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, two days later rejected talks, saying that Syria was supporting Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant movement.