New President Peres - Direct talks if Syria wants peace

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By Stan Goodenough
July 19, 2007

Shimon Peres, Israel's newly inaugurated president, Thursday made good on his pledge not to keep out of politics (as Israel's figurehead presidents are supposed to do) but to continue to push forward the "peace" process that millions of Israelis oppose.

Peres used his official meeting with a Chinese diplomat to say that if Syria sincerely wants to talk peace with Israel, it would agree to direct negotiations with the Jewish state.

Peres was responding to assertions made by United Nations special envoy to the Middle East Michael Williams who, after hobnobbing with Damascus dictator Bashar el-Assad in his palace Wednesday voiced his belief that the Syrian was "truly" interested in resuming talks with Israel.

Assad's sees peacemaking as a way to get Israel off the Golan Heights and thereby bolster himself in the eyes of his countrymen.

He heads a minority Alawite government and holds on to power by a combination of persecuting Syrians who oppose him and appearing to stand strong against Israel.

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