Israel: Pelosi to tell Syria of its demand
JERUSALEM - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will tell Syrian leaders when she visits Damascus this week on a trip criticized by the Bush administration that Israel will engage in peace talks only if Syria stops supporting Palestinian extremists, Israel said yesterday.
JERUSALEM - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will tell Syrian leaders when she visits Damascus this week on a trip criticized by the Bush administration that Israel will engage in peace talks only if Syria stops supporting Palestinian extremists, Israel said yesterday.
The message came during Pelosi's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during the Israel part of her Mideast tour.
"Pelosi is conveying that Israel is willing to talk if they [Syria] would openly take steps to stop supporting terrorism," Olmert's spokeswoman Miri Eisin said. "But at this point, the Syrian government, by openly backing terror all around the Middle East, is not a partner for negotiations."
Israel and Syria are sworn enemies, though peace talks came close to success in 2000 before breaking down. Israel contends that Syria-based Palestinian militants are directing violence against it from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Washington also considers Syria a sponsor of terror and had asked Pelosi not to visit Damascus.
"I think most Americans would not think that the leader of the Democratic Party in the Congress should be meeting with the heads of a state sponsor of terror," White House counselor Dan Bartlett said on the CBS show Face the Nation.
Pelosi said yesterday that when she meets with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, she will raise the issue of two Israeli soldiers captured by the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah and a third captured by Palestinians last year.
Pelosi's trip with six other lawmakers also includes stops in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.
Three Republican congressmen - Frank R. Wolf, Joseph R. Pitts and Robert B. Aderholt - were in Syria yesterday, where they met with Assad. They said they believed there was an opportunity for dialogue with the Syrian leadership. The White House did not comment on their visit.
Last night, Pelosi spoke at a dinner in the parliament building, and told Israeli lawmakers that the United States remains strongly behind their country.
"Americans have many political differences, but we stand united with Israel now and always," she said.
Representatives for the delegation did not immediately return calls requesting comment on the meeting with Olmert.
Olmert yesterday invited Arab leaders to a regional peace conference, saying that he hoped for an exchange of views about solving the Mideast conflict.
Pelosi and the delegation, which includes the first Muslim member of Congress, Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, are scheduled to meet Abbas today.
Ellison visited Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest site, yesterday. He said he was here to learn and did not consider himself qualified to mediate. The lawmaker said Saturday that his presence - as a Muslim - on the trip sends a message to Israelis and Palestinians that "people can come together."
