Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said on Thursday a list of proposals has been sent to Israel via Turkish mediators aimed at laying the groundwork for direct peace talks between the two foes. “We are awaiting Israel's response to six points that we have submitted through Turkey,” Assad said at a four-way summit in Damascus with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani. “Our response would be positive, paving the way for direct talks after a new US administration that believes in the peace process takes office,” he said. Israel and Syria, which have technically remained in a state of war for 60 years, launched indirect negotiations, brokered by Turkey in May, eight years after they were broken off over the fate of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. After four rounds of talks, the fifth, due to be held on Sunday, was postponed because of the resignation of the Israeli negotiator, Al-Assad said. Erdogan said in televised remarks that the fifth round would be held on Sept. 18-19. The four-way Damascus summit is important because Syria presides over the Arab summit, France is the current president of the European Union, Qatar chairs the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Turkey plays an important role in the region and serves as mediator in the indirect peace talks between Syria and Israel. Syria has said that ultimately only the United States has the clout to sponsor direct talks, although it has been keen to win greater international support for the process. “We are also waiting for the Israeli election to be assured that a new prime minister would be on the same track as Olmert and be ready to completely withdraw from the occupied land in order to achieve peace,” Assad said. Olmert in July announced he would resign as premier after a leadership election in his centrist Kadima party in mid-September. Assad also said Lebanese President Michel Sleiman had agreed to join future direct talks with Israel, adding: “We don't want just a peace agreement. We want peace.” Sarkozy, who wrapped up a landmark visit to Syria on Thursday, hailed Turkey's role as mediator and said France was set to give any help required for direct peace negotiations. The key sticking point in the talks is the Golan, the strategic plateau captured by Israel in the 1967 war with Arab states and annexed in 1981 in a move not recognized by the international community. At the summit, Sarkozy warned Iran that its determination to press on with its controversial nuclear drive risked an Israeli strike that would be a “catastrophe.” Sarkozy is the first Western head of state to visit Syria since the murder of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri in a 2005 bombing in Beirut that was widely blamed on Damascus.
