MIDDLE EAST: Syria and the Palestine Liberation Organisation opened a new chapter in their often turbulent ties on Monday, saying they wanted to co-ordinate their efforts to make peace with Israel.
Under Yasser Arafat's leadership of the PLO, its relations with Syria were stormy for most of the past three decades, and hit a low after the Palestinians signed the Oslo peace deals with Israel in 1993.
Syria, whose own negotiations with Israel later foundered, blasted the Palestinians at the time, saying they had shattered a joint Arab approach aimed at reaching peace with Israel on all tracks simultaneously.
But Syrian and PLO officials exchanged conciliatory notes after Arafat's death last month, and the thaw accelerated yesterday at a meeting in Damascus between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and new PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas.
"We spoke a while ago with President Bashar about co-ordination with Syria and we said we start with consultations and then we move to the stage of co-ordination. The Palestinian-Israeli situation and the Syrian-Israeli situation require a form of co-ordination and consultation so that ... the Israelis do not exploit our respective positions.
"Therefore, we want to walk side by side," Abbas said.
Abbas is neck and neck with Marwan Barghouthi, a leader of the Palestinian uprising now serving five life terms in an Israeli jail, in the race to replace Arafat as Palestinian president, the latest opinion poll showed.
Abbas is widely seen by the international community as a potential peacemaker with Israel.
Diplomats said it was too early to say how closely the two sides could co-ordinate their positions, especially as the Syrian track remains frozen despite Damascus's recent indication that it was willing to resume talks with Israel with no conditions.
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara said there could be no immediate co-ordination but that Syria and the Palestinians had agreed on forms of co-operation.
"Let's be realistic, consultations and exchange of views is the first stage that is followed by co-ordination, if we use certain agreed mechanisms well, so that both sides benefit from them," Shara said.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said relations between Damascus and the PLO had improved markedly.
"One hundred per cent," Shaath said, after being asked if the talks had succeeded in narrowing the gap between the two sides.
"In the end we are all seeking a comprehensive solution, not a partial one [for the Arab-Israeli conflict]," said Shaath.
He arrived in Damascus earlier yesterday with Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie. - (Reuters)