Sharon would not withdraw from the Syrian Golan Heights

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, April 29 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Reacting to Syrian President’s offer for talks, Israeli officials said the “talks offer was a trick aimed at deflecting U.S. pressure on Damascus, following accustaions after Iraq invasion by Washington.

U.S. congressman Tom Lantos announced late Monday, April 28, that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is ready for discussions with Israel, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Lantos, who visited Damascus Saturday, conveyed a message to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from the Syrian leader.

"He asked me to convey to the Israeli prime minister his desire to talk to Israel about various outstanding issues," Lantos, a California Democrat, said.

"I discussed it with Ariel Sharon. Our role can only be to facilitate Syrian and Israeli conversations when they come about, I hope they will."

Israeli public radio reported that Sharon replied, saying Israel was prepared to enter into discussions with Syria "without preconditions."

Sharon opposes resumption of negotiations with Syria where they ended during Ehud Barak's term in office and when (late Syrian President) Hafez Assad was still alive.

However, the radio added that Sharon would not make any concessions leading to an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, occupied from Syria in 1967.

Moreover, Sharon was also quoted as saying that Syria would have to take steps against what he termed “terrorism."

‘Assad Trick'

"He asked me to convey to the Israeli prime minister his desire to talk," Lantos

Meanwhile, Israeli daily Ha’aretz Tuesday, April 29, quoted unnamed Israeli officials as saying that the Assad bid was a "trick" aimed at deflecting U.S. pressure on Damascus in the wake of its anti-U.S. policy during the Iraq invasion.

Israel Radio said that the assessment of senior government officials was that Assad's move was "a Syrian trick designed to reduce the American pressure on him, pressure applied as a result of the policy he displayed during the recent war."

Sharon also told Lantos that he expected Palestinian prime minister-designate Abu Mazen to fight ‘terror’ by carrying out arrests, interrogations and foiling attacks, as detailed by the Zinni and Tenet plans, the report said.

Sharon said that talks between Palestinian Authority officials and ‘terror organizations’ [Israel’s term for Palestinian resistance groups] would not produce an acceptable alternative to a ‘war against terror’, and would in fact be a negative development.

Sharon also said that he would offer the Palestinians the choice of the area in the territories where they would begin their “fight against terror”, with Israel's assistance.

Sharon also said that he thought Abu Mazen would be able to stop “incitement” against Israel in the Palestinian media.