SEIS THE DAY

Syria denies secret talks with Israel (UPI, 5/07/03)

Syria on Wednesday denied having had secret negotiations and sending messages to Israel to resume peace talks, and said such Israeli reports were meant to harm Damascus' "credibility."

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Syria "strongly denies all these allegations."

He said Syria had engaged in peace negotiations with the direct participation of the United States but refused secret negotiations at any level.

"Building peace is an honorable matter and needs no secret channels," he said in a statement. "It (peace) should be concluded in broad day light."

His comments came after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday said he received several months ago messages from Syria seeking to renew peace talks and that Israeli Foreign Ministry's former Director General Eitan Benzur had meetings "to check the matter."

Sharon said that after the war erupted in Iraq "there was another such attempt and a meeting" but he decided "to wait now for about a month to see how events develop (in Syria)."

Even if Syria were being cynical about negotiations, it would be worth entering into them just because it would so compromise the regime in the eyes of the radicals and be such a devastating blow to those who hope to eventually destroy Israel militarily. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 7, 2003 10:13 AM