Syria to attend Mideast talks

Published 9:43 pm Sunday, November 25, 2007

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria said Sunday it decided to attend a U.S.-sponsored conference on Middle East peace after concluding that the agenda would allow it to press its demand for a return of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The decision raised the prospect that Israel might eventually resume peace talks with Syria, aiding what appears to be a nascent U.S. effort to woo the Syrians away from their alliance with Iran.

However, expectations for the summit remained low. Israelis and Palestinians came to Washington without agreeing on basic terms for their negotiations.

President Bush invited the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to separate meetings at the White House today to prepare for the centerpiece of his Mideast gathering, an all-day session Tuesday in Annapolis, Md. It is to be the only time that Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meet together, and their three-way handshake is expected to be the conference’s symbolic high point.

Bush closes the U.S. effort with a second set of separate Israeli and Palestinian meetings at the White House on Wednesday.

Syria’s official news agency reported that Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Moqdad would represent the country at the conference.

While other countries are sending higher-ranking officials, the Bush administration appeared to be satisfied by Syria’s announcement, given the uncertainty that the Syrians would attend at all.

And Syria’s decision was certain to upset Iran, its most important ally.

All 15 Arab countries invited to the gathering have now agreed to come, giving Washington a chance to display broad regional support for a revival of U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

By extending an invitation to Syria, the administration appeared to be moving to draw what it considers a pariah regime into efforts to reach a peace agreement. Syria, Israel’s northern neighbor, first said it would not attend unless the future of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War, was on the agenda.

U.S. officials initially rejected Syria’s condition for attending, saying the conference would focus entirely on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But later they added a conference session to discuss a “comprehensive peace in the Middle East.”

That was enough to satisfy Syria that it could use the gathering to address its conflict with Israel and demand a return of the captured territory.