ياشاسين آذربايجان - Long live Azerbaijan

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“One doesn’t have to be a military expert to understand from here why the 1967 border is not a defensive line from this direction,” Ya’alon said. Peled, who was the head of the Northern Command during his army career, said, “they are trying to sell us in Turkey. The Golan is the oxygen of the Jewish state, and to discuss it is potential suicide for the state of Israel.”

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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with Turkish counterpart Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Monday, telling him that “Whatever we don’t do today in the Middle East, we may not be able to achieve tomorrow. We must advance toward direct peace talks between Israel and Syria as soon as possible.”

Four rounds of indirect Syrian-Israeli talks have been held this year through Turkish mediators, to little avail. The talks were suspended after Olmert announced he was stepping down due to several corruption investigations against him.

Olmert and Erdogan met Monday evening, and agreed that the Turkish government would continue to work toward facilitating direct talks between Israel and Syria.

The two held a one-hour private meeting on the Syrian issue, after which they dined with officials and then resumed their private conversation on the aforementioned peace talks well into the night.

Olmert and Erdogan agreed that tenacity was imperative in achieving direct talks. “The path to peace passes through direct talks between the sides, and we must achieve such a process as soon as possible,” the two said.

Earlier Monday, Olmert met Turkish President Abdullah Gul. The office of Gaza Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement that he called the president of Turkey and asked him to press Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza.

Meanwhile Monday, Syrian President Bashar Assad said he believed direct peace talks with Israel were possible, and that they will eventually take place.

“It’s natural that we would move, at a later stage, to direct negotiations. We cannot achieve peace through indirect talks only,” Assad said at a press conference in Damascus with his Croatian counterpart, Stipe Mesic.

Assad compared the peace process to the construction of a building, saying Syria and Israel are now laying the foundations for peace through the indirect talks.

“We should first lay solid foundations and then construct the building, and not vice versa,” he said. “If the bases are successful, then direct negotiations will be successful.”

Olmert said last week it was possible to negotiate a peace treaty between Israel and Syria.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Christian leader Michel Aoun, an ally of Hezbollah, said he would support peace talks between Lebanon and Israel on condition that Syria be present.

On Sunday, the Lebanese daily Ad-Diyar reported that France was working toward the holding of direct talks between Israel and Lebanon. According to the report, which has not been verified by other sources, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was going to bring up the subject of talks on his next visit to Lebanon, which is scheduled for the beginning of January.

Also on Monday, Likud chairman MK Benjamin Netanyahu spoke out against the contacts between Israel and Syria during a visit to the Golan Heights.

“We don’t know what Olmert is going to agree to behind closed doors,” he said.

Flanked by two Likud leaders who are closely identified with security issues, former Israel Defense Force chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon and Maj. Gen. (res.) Yossi Peled, Netanyahu added, “We have come here to openly say that a government I will head will remain on the Golan Heights and will protect it as a strategic asset. The citizens of Israel expect their leadership to protect their security 365 days a year and not a leadership that tries to shirk its responsibility two months before elections by letting loose indirect declarations.”

“One doesn’t have to be a military expert to understand from here why the 1967 border is not a defensive line from this direction,” Ya’alon said.

Peled, who was the head of the Northern Command during his army career, said, “they are trying to sell us in Turkey. The Golan is the oxygen of the Jewish state, and to discuss it is potential suicide for the state of Israel.”

No new date has been set for a continuation of indirect talks, and Assad did not say on Monday when they would resume. They are not expected to go on until after February’s Knesset elections.haaretz

, Voice of a Nation

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