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Peace with Syria achievable, says Olmert

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-19 06:43

JERUSALEM - The door is open for direct talks between Israel and Syria and a peace deal between the two long-time foes is achievable, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert waves as he leaves after speaking at a conference of the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, in Tel Aviv, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008. Olmert said Thursday that it is possible to negotiate a peace treaty between Israel and Syria. [Agencies]

He spoke two days before flying to Turkey to discuss indirect Israeli-Syrian negotiations, suspended earlier this year after he announced his resignation over a corruption scandal.

Olmert and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan would discuss Israel's peace talks with Syria in Ankara on Monday, Israeli officials said. Turkey has been mediating in the talks between the two countries.

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"A peace deal with Syria is achievable," Olmert said in a speech in Tel Aviv.

Olmert remains Israel's caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed after an election in February.

He said the indirect talks through Turkey showed there was "a real chance for progress towards a peace deal and they pave the way for direct negotiations".

Olmert did not say when direct talks might start.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said another round of Turkish-mediated indirect talks was possible, adding: "It has not been decided."

For almost 10 years, the two countries held direct talks under US supervision until they collapsed in 2000 over the scope of a proposed Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.

Israel captured the plateau in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it more than a decade later -- a move rejected by the United Nations.