Pelosi Says Syria Is Ready for Peace Talks

PM's office distances itself from speaker's promise of talks

(NEWSER) - The Israeli PM is backing off from Nancy Pelosi's suggestion yesterday that an Israeli-Syrian summit is in the offing. Pelosi told reporters that she had conveyed to Syria's Bashar al-Assad a message that Ehud Olmert was "ready to engage in peace talks." Olmert's office quickly responded that it hadn't communicated any change in its Syria policy to the house speaker. More»

'Gesture of peace' launches new 43-nation group

(NEWSER) - The inaugural meeting yesterday of the Union of the Mediterranean, which brought together the 27 EU countries and their neighbors to the south, kicked off discussions about a number of mutual projects. But French President Nicolas Sarkozy used it as an opportunity to flex some diplomatic muscle by bringing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad out of isolation and by hosting a sit-down between Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. More»

Olmert denounces war, hints back-door deals may end in peace talks

(NEWSER) - Israel's PM deflected fears of a war with Syria today, and fueled semi-official rumors that peace talks are going on furtively between the two hostile countries. Olmert says he wants a sitdown with Syria—which would be the first in seven years—but warned president Assad that talks would not be an invitation to a land grab of territories lost in 1967. More»

Experts laud diplomatic offensive, warn of potential failure

(NEWSER) - The Wall Street Journal puts Nancy Pelosi's high profile visit to Damascus in perspective in a piece outlining the vexing complexity of relations between Syria and the U.S. A number of Pentagon and State Dept. counterterrorism officials support the congressional effort to moderate the President's hard line on Syria, in order to break its alliance with Iran. More»

(NEWSER) - President Obama may renew stalled talks between Israel and Syria, both to revive hopes of Mideast peace and isolate Iran, but the approach is laden with pitfalls, Seymour M. Hersh writes in the New Yorker. Some observers doubt Israel will ever move 20,000 settlers out of the Golan Heights—land that Syria demands to have back—and others warn Obama against negotiating with an ally of Iran that arms both Hamas and Hezbollah. More»