By Xinhua,
Jerusalem : Israel is interested in realizing peace with Syria if Damascus breaks away from “the axis of evil,” Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth quoted a senior Israeli official as saying Sunday.
“Peace with Syria is in Israel’s interests, on the condition that Damascus is cut off from the axis of evil,” said the official, whose name was not revealed.
Meanwhile, the official admitted the existence of the Turkish channel between Israel and Syria, while adding that negotiations could take time and expectations should be kept realistic.
“If Syria breaks away from the axis of evil, if the transfer of arms to Hezbollah is halted and if Jihad and Hamas bases are removed from Damascus, this will constitute progress, and not all this talk and decelerations,” he was quoted as saying.
“If Israel will be required to pay the price in question, namely ceding the Golan Heights, without getting anything in return, then we have gained nothing,” he added.
Israel has yet to make official comment on reports from Ankara that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Chief of Staff Yoram Turbowicz relayed a letter to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan several weeks ago which conveyed Israel’s willingness to relinquish the Golan.
The soothing remarks came on the same day when Syrian President Bashar Assad told Qatari daily Al Watan, after meeting on Saturday in Damascus with Erdogan, that the time for Syrian-Israeli peace talks had not yet arrived.
Israel’s willingness to cede the Golan Heights to Syria is only a “preliminary indication” that peace between the two states might become materialized, Assad said, adding that Syria wants the United States to oversee negotiations with Israel.
Before Saturday’s meeting with Erdogan, who expressed Ankara’s willingness to host direct Israeli-Syrian talks, Assad said “Syriais willing to continue cooperation with Turkey in all what serves security and stability of the region.”