Sharon turned down peace talks with Syria

9/14/2004 8:00:00 AM GMT

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon admitted that he had rejected last year a U.S. proposal to resume peace talks with Syria.

Sharon told the Haaretz daily that senior White House envoy, Elliot Abrams, suggested in a meeting in Rome last November that he resumes peace talks with Syria, but this never happened.

"It was immediately taken off the agenda and they're not raising it any more," Sharon said.

"He (Abrams) wanted to talk with me then on the Syrian issue," said Sharon.

"He spoke about what the Syrians were trying to do, that they would enter into negotiations with Israel."

All attempts for reaching a peace deal between the two countries have foundered over the return of the Golan Heights which Israel occupied during the 1967 Middle East War and annexed 14 years later.

Last week, Syrian President Bashar showed willingness to resume negotiations with Israel if Sharon would similarly oblige.

However, Sharon undermined Assad’s initiative, accusing him of trying to please the Americans and demanded that he closes all the offices of Palestinian resistance groups based in Damascus; as sign of real intention to reach a peace deal.

The Israeli army's chief of staff, General Moshe Yaalon has previously said that Israel could return back the Golan to Syria, the first time that such a senior officer had accepted the possibility of a total withdrawal from the Golan Heights, as demanded by the Syrian President.

However Sharon rejected any complete withdrawal which has been tackled in previous peace talks with Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak.

"There is no way, under any circumstances, to return today to what we talked about in previous discussions," Sharon said.

"Those discussions, in the days of several prime ministers were certainly very dangerous to Israel," he added.

Gulf ministers urge Syria to pull out from Lebanon

Gulf ministers called upon Syria on Monday to respect a United Nations Security Council resolution that states withdrawing all Syrian troops from Lebanon.

"The council supports internationally legitimate resolutions, and (that includes) the last decision issued by the Security Council, calling for the withdrawal of all forces from Lebanon," said Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheik Mohammed Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah, head of the GCC's panel of ministers.

Arab countries long have accused Israel of ignoring its international obligations under Security Council resolutions that call for the return of Palestinian refugees and the restoration of 1967 pre-war borders.

The GCC includes Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

The Security Council submitted a resolution in Sept. 2 demanding the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon and the holding of presidential elections in the country.

Syria, which enjoys huge influence over Lebanese politics, has 20,000 troops in its much smaller neighbor. It also backed amending Lebanon's constitution to give pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud another presidential period.

Despite its failure to stop Lahoud's extension, the UN resolution sent a strong signal to Damascus that the U.S. and European powers wanted Syria to lift its hand off Lebanon.

Lahoud on Monday rejected the call for Syrian withdrawal, saying Syrian troops are needed in the region and would not leave until Israel complies with past Security Council resolutions.

"Until that happens, Lebanon considers the Syrian military presence on its territory a legitimate factor which helps in reinforcing stability in the region."