September 05, 2008	Friday	Ramazan 04, 1429

DAMASCUS, Sept 4: Syrian President Bashar Assad disclosed on Thursday that his country had handed proposals for peace with Israel to Turkish mediators and would wait for Israel’s response before holding any face-to-face negotiations.

Assad said the document was intended to serve as a basis for direct talks and that he was waiting for a similar document laying out Israel’s positions. So far, negotiations have been held indirectly through Turkish mediation.

Assad spoke on Thursday at a summit with the leaders of France, Turkey and Qatar to discuss Mideast stability and peace. Iran was another major focus of the summit. France indicated before the meeting that it hoped warmer relations with Syria, Iran’s ally, could help the West in its efforts to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear programme.

On Israel, the Syrian president cautioned that the future of negotiations rested on who becomes prime minister in Israel and whether the new leader will be committed to pursuing peace with

Syria.

An Israeli official said on Thursday that efforts were under way to hold a new round of indirect talks and that it was Israel’s “genuine intention” to reach an agreement. The official declined to be identified because the diplomatic efforts are ongoing.

Any direct talks between the sides would have to wait until a new American administration is in place, Assad said.

Assad did not disclose details of the Syrian proposals, and little information has emerged from four rounds of indirect talks with Israel over the past year.

“We are now discussing a document of ... general principles of the peace process which will be the basis for direct negotiations,” Assad said.

He said Syria had outlined six points on the issue of the “withdrawal line,” a reference to the extent of an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights and a major sticking point over which direct negotiations collapsed in 2000.

Israel, in turn, has insisted that Syria end its support for militant groups, namely Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The discussions in Syria’s capital followed a one-to-one meeting between Sarkozy and Assad on Wednesday that also focused on prospects for direct Israeli-Syrian peace talks. Sarkozy offered France’s help to sponsor such negotiations when the time comes. “It is very important that the time for Syria and Israel to talk directly comes soon, to build the peace that everyone needs,” he said on Wednesday. —AP