Palestinian president supports Turkish mediation of Israeli-Syrian peace - AP

By PAKINAM AMER
The Associated Press
Published: April 27, 2008

CAIRO, Egypt: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that he supports Turkish mediation of Israeli-Syrian peace and would back any agreement reached between the two longtime enemies.

Abbas said a peace agreement between Israel and Syria would not harm Palestinian negotiations with the Jewish state, a topic he discussed with U.S. President George W. Bush earlier in the week. The Palestinian leader said he would meet with Bush again on May 17 in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik.

"We stand with any dialogue or agreement that our Syrian brothers reach, and we don't believe, at all, that this would compromise the Palestinian-Israeli (peace) process," Abbas told reporters at a press conference in Sharm el-Sheik after meeting with President Hosni Mubarak.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Saturday to discuss Ankara's attempts to restart low-level peace talks as a prelude to bringing the leaders of Syria and Israel together.

"What Turkey is doing, or what any other country is (doing) regarding the Syrian process, we approve it," said Abbas.

The Turkish prime minister said Saturday that his mediation was in response to a request from Syria and Israel. The last round of direct talks between the two countries broke down in 2000 over the details of Israel's proposed withdrawal from the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau which it seized in the 1967 Mideast War.

Erdogan did not mention statements by Syrian officials and media in the past week saying that the Turkish prime minister recently delivered a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Syria indicating Israel was willing to give up the Golan Heights in return for a peace treaty.

Israel has refused to comment on the reports. But Olmert said earlier this month that he sent messages to Damascus on peace prospects though he would not disclose the contents.

The recent developments suggest some progress in back-channel contacts between Syria and Israel despite heightened tensions over Lebanon and an Israeli airstrike on a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria in September.

Abbas briefed Mubarak on Sunday on the results of his recent discussions with Bush, which he said "did not yield a breakthrough" on Mideast peace. The U.S. President has been pushing for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement by the end of the year, but progress has been limited.

One of the complicating factors has been the split between the Palestinian factions, with Abbas' Fatah group controlling the West Bank and the militant Hamas party controlling the Gaza Strip. Hamas has fired scores of rockets toward Israel in recent weeks, and the Jewish state has responded with strikes inside Gaza.

Despite the renewed violence, Egypt is making another attempt to broker a truce between Hamas and Israel. The deal would also include a prisoner swap and the opening of Gaza border crossings; the territory has been virtually sealed by Israel and Egypt since the violent Hamas takeover last June.

Hamas announced Thursday that it would be prepared to accept a cease-fire with Israel that applies to Gaza only, dropping an earlier demand that any truce include the West Bank as well.

Abbas said Sunday that he backs Egyptian attempts to mediate a cease-fire, praising the effect "that such a cooling off would have in reducing Palestinian suffering and opening the (border) crossings."

Link: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/27/africa/ME-GEN-Palestinians-Turkey-Mideast-Peace.php
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24334660/ (full story w/byline)
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1208870502470&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull (AP News Now)