Syrian President Bashar Al-Asad denies delivering a message to Israel regarding resuming negotiations, according to the Syrian news agency SANA, quoting a senior Syrian official. Thus, another chapter in the ongoing saga of Syrian-Israeli relations came to an end.
This installment of the account started with a Syrian editorial on July 12th. The Syrian governmental newspaper Tishrin published an editorial claiming Damascus is prepared to resume peace talks with Israel, taking off from where they ended in 2000.
Five days later Ben Kaspit, a reporter for the Israeli daily Ma’ariv wrote an article titled ‘Syrian President: Prepared to negotiate with Israel’. The article was based on details of a conversation between United Nations Middle East envoy Terje Larsen and Al-Asad, as reportedly leaked by U.S. diplomatic officials. Larsen himself denied delivering a message from Al-Asad to Israel and denied proposing to mediate between the two countries. He claimed the only message he delivered was the one already conveyed publicly by Al-Asad, namely that the president is prepared to return to the negotiating table.
Nevertheless, Israeli officials took the message seriously and decided to examine its sincerity. Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom said Israel will be prepared to resume negotiations with Syria when the latter stops its support of terror. Meanwhile, Shalom ordered a team at the Foreign Ministry to re-examine Syria’s intentions. Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon also wished to know how sincere Al-Asad was and ordered Israel Defense Forces intelligence to examine whether the Syrian president changed his strategic approach and is prepared to reach a settlement with Israel. On Sunday, July 20th Shalom confirmed that a message did indeed arrive from Syria and said “if Al-Asad is willing to dismantle terror infrastructure, to handle negotiations virtuously and unconditionally, he can come to Jerusalem.”
Not two days went by, and the Syrian news agency reported that there was never a message from Syria to Israel. The agency quoted a senior official in the Syrian Foreign Ministry as saying “the Israeli Foreign Minister’s bogus claim is just one of a long line of claims aimed to conceal the policy of Israeli occupation and settlements, which ruin the chance for peace and stability in the Middle East region.”
So was there or was there not a new message from Syria?
“Syria has clarified many times that it is prepared to resume negotiations if Israel guarantees a total withdrawal to the borders of June 4th 1967,” says Professor Eyal Zisser, an expert on Syria at the Dayan Center, “but every time they mention this to a diplomat, it creates a large media buzz in Israel. It seems the issue is hot in the media because they want exclusive headlines.”