Israel seeks peace with Syria, Ehud Olmert said. The Israeli prime
minister Sunday acknowledged recent peace overtures from Syrian
President Bashar Assad, but said failed talks in the past suggest
Damascus needed to change its diplomatic style.
“We want to make
peace with every Arab country, and with Syria too, of course, but
peacemaking is not always achieved with statements,” Olmert told Israel
Radio. “The fact is that for more than 12 years Israel conducted three sets
of negotiations with Syria, through various channels as well as directly,
and all these negotiations failed.”
Israel has called for Syria to show
its good faith by ceasing its sponsorship of Hezbollah, as well as
Palestinian terrorist groups. It also has signaled opposition to Syria’s
demand for a complete and immediate return of the Golan Heights, which
Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
