War (of Words) with Syria
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Monday, May 05, 2003
[Talk about talks, triggered by Lantos (D-CA) visit to Syria and Israel. Background on rebuffed attempt to resume talks prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Comments from dovish and hawkish politicians in Israel.]
Israel for unconditional talks with Syria
UPI -- May 5
By Joshua Brilliant
TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israeli Minister Without Portfolio Meir Sheetrit Monday told parliament his country was ready for unconditional talks with Syria, faced with reports of the Arab country's readiness to resume peace talks with Israel.
Israel is ready for "bona fide negotiations, without prior conditions," he said.
Sheetrit addressed the issue exactly a week after U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., told Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Syrian President Bashar Assad wanted to resume talks.
Monday the Israeli Maariv newspaper reported that Sharon had rejected an earlier Syrian attempt, made before the war in Iraq, to resume negotiations. An Israeli diplomatic source said the government considered that initiative to be "not serious."
Sheetrit told the legislators that Sharon was ready for negotiations "any place, any time, without prior conditions."
Is Bush a Neoconservative?
The American Conservative -- May 5
by Pat Buchanan
Is George W. Bush a neoconservative? Has he, too, decided that we must, after taking down Saddam, destroy six or seven more Arab and Islamic regimes, “democratize” the Mideast, and impose a Pax Americana from Tripoli to Tora Bora?
Is Syria next on the U.S. “hit list” for “regime change”?
My sense: George W. is more his father’s son than a neocon. But we are going to find out soon. For not only have Richard Perle and ex-CIA-Director James Woolsey begun to breathe fire at Syria, so, too, have Secretary Rumsfeld and President Bush himself.
via tom moody
Syria to U.S.: 'Press Israel to give up all 1967 war gains'
Reuters via Ha'aretz -- May 5
Syria on Sunday, responding to a call by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to cooperate, said Arabs had given their all for peace and Washington must now push Israel to give up the land it seized in a 1967 Middle East war.
"Peace...as Mr. Powell knows, cannot be achieved without obliging Israel to fulfil international resolutions" and to withdraw to frontiers before the Middle East war in June 1967, the state-run radio, a government mouthpiece, said Sunday.
[Transcript of CBS interview of Powell.]
Transcript: Powell Calls Syria's Anti-Terrorist "Performance" Key
US Department of State -- May 4
In a May 4 interview on CBS's Face the Nation, Secretary of State
Colin Powell said it was "significant" that Syria reportedly will
close offices being used by terrorists in their country and restrict
their activities in other ways.
[Transcript of NBC interview of Powell.]
Transcript: Powell Says U.S. Interested in Comprehensive Mideast Settlement
US Department of State -- May 4
(On NBC, secretary discusses Syria, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Cuba)
Given the new situation in the Middle East, Secretary of State Colin
Powell said on NBC's [Meet the Press] May 4, the United States will be
looking for action by Syria on a number of issues, and is interested
in a comprehensive Middle East settlement that takes into account the
interests of Syria and Lebanon, as well as those of Israel and the
Palestinians.
[Transcript of ABC interview of Powell.]
Transcript: Powell Says U.S. Watching Syria's Anti-Terrorist Actions
US Department of State -- May 4
In a May 4 interview on ABC's This Week, Secretary of State Colin
Powell said the United States will "be watching" to see whether or not
Syria carries out its promises to shut down terrorist offices
operating in its country and restrict the activities of terrorists in
other ways.
[More on Powell's Sunday talk show circuit. Offers carrot and stick approach.]
Praising Syria's President, Powell Also Hints at Sanctions
New York Times -- May 4
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Colin L. Powell labeled as "significant" today the promises he received from President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to shut down the offices of militant groups in that nation, but he said the United States would carefully scrutinize whether Mr. Assad would back up his words with actions in the coming weeks and months.
Speaking on a round of Sunday television interview shows the day after returning from the Middle East, Mr. Powell also hinted that the United States would be prepared to consider political and economic sanctions against Syria if no action was forthcoming, while positive steps could lead to economic benefits for Syria.
Lebanon nixes U.S. call to remove Hezbollah from border area
The Associated Press via Ha'aretz -- May 4
BEIRUT - Lebanon's president rebuffed U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's call to end Hezbollah's military presence in the country's south and replace it with Lebanese forces, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Emile Lahoud told Powell, who visited Beirut on Saturday, that Hezbollah is a "legal political party," whose guerrilla war helped end Israel's 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon, a leading independent daily newspaper, An-Nahar, reported.
Syrian Reaction to Powell Visit Mixed
Voice Of America -- May 4
Greg LaMotte
Cairo - There is a mixed response from Syrian media to Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit Saturday to Damascus. While some view the visit as beneficial, others say the United States needs to drop its demand that Syria close offices of Palestinian groups the United States views as terrorist organizations.
The moderate Syrian Christian newspaper Al-Anwar said Mr. Powell, through discussion, received a Syrian pledge to cooperate in a regional peace process.
But Syria's ruling Baath party newspaper An-Nahar said Mr. Powell's call for Syria to close the offices of radical groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, violated the Palestinians' right to plead their case to the international community. Both groups have boasted of carrying out suicide attacks in Israel.
Lebanon clash
Sun Network (India) -- May 4
Beirut - Anti-Syrian demonstrators clashed with Lebanese security forces near the Foreign Ministry in Beirut. Several hundred protestors called for freedom and independence from what they said was the Syrian occupation of their country. They urged U S Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is currently in Lebanon, to ask the Syrians to pull out of their country.
Syria maintains thousands of troops in Lebanon … something the right-wing Christians oppose. The US wants both Lebanon and Syria to cut off support to militants in the region, including the Hezobllah. The protestors carried pictures of Genral Michel Aoun, a former Lebanese army commander who lives in exile in France and urged supporters to continue protesting the presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon. The demonstrators then broke through two security barricades and headed to the offices of opposition TV and radio station which were closed by authorities last year. They clashed with security forces, who used batons and rifle butts to break up the protest in the Ashrafieh neighbourhood in Beirut.