|
|
 |
Moscow Comes between Israel and Syria
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov and special representative of the foreign minister for the Middle East Sergey Yakovlev arrived in Israel yesterday. The main topic of their talks there will be a Syrian-Israeli settlement. Russia hopes that its influence on Syria will permit it to overtake the United States as peacemaker in the Middle East.
The Russians' visit is being given low-key treatment. They met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni yesterday. The Israeli Foreign Ministry declined to comment on their talks. The Russians also met with head of the Israeli National Security Council Ilan Mizrahi. Officially, the topic of their talks was the upcoming Israeli-Palestinian meetings in Annapolis, Maryland. Other sources say they talked about a conference in Moscow, which the Kremlin has been hoping for since 2005.
Since Israel prefers to deal with the Palestinians directly and recognizes only the U.S. as an intermediary, Moscow has revamped its proposal as a conference on Israeli-Syrian settlement. The possibility of returning the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967, in return for a peace settlement, is more and more frequently mentioned in Israel now.
The U.S., although jealous of its role as peacemaker in the Middle East, has indicated that it would agree to such a conference in Moscow. Damascus had made it know that, during the summit in Annapolis, it would host a summit of anti-Israeli forces. Former Russian prime minister and head of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Evgeny Primakov was able to dissuade Syria from that plan during a visit there at the beginning of the month. Instead, Syrian President Bashar Asad will send his own envoy to Annapolis. In return, Syria is demanding that the conference in Moscow take place, as the first step in its recovery of the Golan Heights.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 16, 2007
|
|
|
