MIDDLE EAST:SYRIA AND Israel confirmed yesterday that they are set to begin indirect negotiations over the Golan Heights occupied by Israel in 1967. Syrian foreign minister Walid Moallem said Israel has already pledged to withdraw entirely from the Golan while an Israeli official announced that prime minister Ehud Olmert had given Syria a "formula that [Syrian president Bashar al-] Assad wanted," although details have not been released.
Mr Olmert's office said: "The sides have declared their intention to conduct the talks without prejudice and with openness . . . with the aim of reaching a comprehensive peace."
The Syrian foreign ministry's statement, issued two minutes later, employed the same language, indicating that the parties had co-ordinated announcements.
Talks about talks opened in February 2007 after Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed mediated negotiations to Mr Olmert during a visit Turkey.
Dr Assad has been pressing for negotiations over the Golan for more than two years.
The leader of the Syrian team, lawyer Riad Daoudi, has yet to meet Mr Olmert's aides, Yoram Turbovitz and Shalom Turjeman, who have been in Ankara since Monday, but this may not happen until some progress is achieved.
The most recent negotiations between Syria and Israel took place in 2000 but ended in failure.
Mr Olmert has pledged that Israel-Syria talks will not disrupt Israel's negotiations with the Palestinians, launched six months ago. He has conditioned Israeli withdrawal from the Golan on Damascus severing ties with Iran, Hizbullah and Hamas.
Although US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has repeatedly said Washington backs Syria-Israeli talks, the Bush administration had adopted a negative stand toward such talks until the latest political crisis erupted in Lebanon. Yesterday it voiced tepid support for the talks.
According to the London-based Arabic daily, Al-Hayat, the US is now asking Turkey to press forward with negotiations. The US believes progress will ensure that Damascus distances itself from Hizbullah, which now has the upper hand on the Lebanese political scene. Al-Hayat says Washington is prepared to participate if Turkey achieves a breakthrough. This would suit Syria, which insists on US involvement.
