Syria seeks US mediation in peace negotiations

After meeting with Syrian officials in Damascus, a European official relayed a message that Syria is ready to renew negotiations through a secret channel, leading to public negotiations with the United States as a mediator. According to the official, Syria wants to renew talks under the precondition that Israel will return the Golan Heights and retreat to the 1967 borders, and in return Syria will fully normalize relations with Israel. This falls short of former Israeli demands that Syria sever its ties to Iran.

Shimon Shiffer in Yedioth Ahronoth reports:

According to the messages conveyed to Jerusalem, the Syrians prefer the American mediation to the other possibilities that have recently arisen: the Turkish track or the French track.  Syria is interested in improving its relations with the United States and extricating itself from its international isolation.  The invitation to the Americans to serve as mediators is part of this effort.

The White House is currently treating the signals from Damascus with great skepticism, but a high-ranking political source says that in light of the impasse on the Palestinian front, the Americans do not rule out the possibility that they would back a renewal of talks between Israel and Syria.

Sources in Israel say that this time it may be serious.  Until now, Syria has insisted on Turkish mediation, and the Netanyahu government refused on the grounds that the Turks are not currently honest brokers.  Now, for the first time in many years, Syria has consented to American mediation, to which Israel also consents.

Israel Radio News also reports that Fred Hof met yesterday with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem to discuss ways of renewing the peace process.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in an interview to the Syrian media, said that Turkey would be willing to resume its role as mediator, but that it did not make sense if one of the sides was not interested in this. Israel Radio News reported that Erdogan said "it was not important who Netanyahu chooses to have as moderator, but rather what Syria would say."

This also comes in the midst of the first official meeting between Israel and Turkey since relations soured this past September. Israeli President Shimon Peres met with Turkish President Abdullah Gul today on the sidelines of the Copenhagen Climate Summit. According to Haaretz, the two countries have "agreed to resume positive and stable diplomatic relations."