France’s president said he is refusing contact with Damascus while a U.S. senator said Syria’s leader is ready for peace.
After meeting Syrian President Bashar Assad on Sunday, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) told The Associated Press he believes Assad is ready to discuss peace with Israel. U.S. Rep Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) also attended the meeting.
“There is a sense that he is ready and the Syrian public opinion is ready” for peace, Specter said, according to the report. The senator would not confirm whether he had passed a message to Assad from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whom Specter met last week.
Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Sunday after a meeting in Egypt with President Hosni Mubarak that he was suspending diplomatic contacts with Syria until his government has proof that Damascus is letting Lebanon freely appoint a new president.
Sarkozy also called on Israel to aid the Palestinians in forming “a free, democratic and independent Palestinian state.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
