Syrian President Says Israel-Syria Peace Talks Can Happen - But Only After Bush Is Gone

Hahaha. What's the problem, Bashar Assad, you don't like playing ball with a leader who calls your bluff and knows you are a lying sack of shit? I can hear you whining like a baby right now Assad: " I want Bush to leave now!" - were your little hands all balled up and your face all red when you whined that?

Okay, here's the scoop from the article here at Breitbart:

Syria's president said in an interview published Thursday that his country may hold peace talks with Israel, but not until a new U.S. administration takes office.
Syrian President Bashar Assad said that Turkish mediation over the past year could lay the groundwork for direct talks and that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had passed a message to Syria saying he is prepared to hand over the Golan Heights in return for peace.

Now, I'm going to stray from the issue of President Bush here and look more closely at this claim from Assad that Israel's Olmert has said he will hand over the Golan Heights. Now, 95% of me wants to call this hogwash and simply Assad doing what Syrians do and that is lie. But something is bothering me here and it's this from the article:

Olmert said he had sent messages to Damascus on peace prospects but did not reveal the contents. His spokesman, Mark Regev, declined to comment on the reports of Turkish mediation and offer of a Golan withdrawal but said Israel is genuinely interested in restarting talks with Syria.
"We are interested in peace with Syria. We know what the Syrians expect from negotiations and the Syrians know what Israel wants from the negotiations," Regev said.

That's the part bugging me - that Regev veiled this by saying the Israelis know what Syria expects (meaning the return of the Golan Heights) and they are still willing to sit down. That to me says that Israel is at least considering it and to me, that is absolute madness. First of all, what "Peace" does Israel want from Syria? Syria isn't bombing Israel, they aren't sending suicide bombers, they aren't capturing Israeli troops - it is Hezbollah that is doing that. And believe me, while Syria supports Hezbollah, Syria does NOT tell Hezbollah what to do - Iran does. Why make peace with a surrogate like Syria while the grand puba in Persia pulls the strings. Giving back the Golan Heights would be a huge mistake and quite frankly, would probably mean the removal of Olmert - not a bad thing but a little late.

Syrian president ready to talk to Israel once Bush term ends

In an interview with the Qatari newspaper Al-Watan, Assad said the United States is the only country that can sponsor direct Syrian- Israel negotiations. But he said the Bush administration, which leaves office in January, "does not have the vision or will for the peace process."
Assad said Turkish officials passed on a message a week ago that Olmert had "assured the Turkish prime minister of his readiness to return the Golan."
Olmert said he had sent messages to Damascus on peace prospects but did not reveal the contents. His spokesman, Mark Regev, declined to comment on the reports of Turkish mediation and offer of a Golan withdrawal but said Israel is genuinely interested in restarting talks with Syria.
"We are interested in peace with Syria. We know what the Syrians expect from negotiations and the Syrians know what Israel wants from the negotiations," Regev said.
The comments suggest some progress in back-channel contacts between the longtime enemies, despite heightened tensions between them in the past year over turmoil in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip and over an Israeli airstrike inside Syria.
In Washington on Thursday, U.S. intelligence officials showed members of Congress a video and other evidence they said supports their view that the target was a nuclear reactor being built by Syria with North Korean help. Syria has denied building any nuclear facilities, saying the attack destroyed an unused military warehouse.
Syria's relations with the U.S. have deteriorated in recent years. Washington accuses Syria of stirring turmoil in Lebanon and supporting terrorism by backing the Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups and allowing extremists to cross into Iraq.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war. The two countries last held peace negotiations in 2000 under former President Clinton, but talks collapsed over the extent of Israel's proposed withdrawal. Israel wanted to keep a small strip along the Sea of Galilee to ensure its control of the vital water supply, a demand Syria rejected.
Martin Indyk, U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Clinton administration, told the House Mideast subcommittee Thursday that if negotiations resume, Washington should insist on an end to Syrian support for Hezbollah and on Lebanon's independence from Syrian influence.
Another witness, Peter Rodman, a former Pentagon, White House and State Department official over several decades, said he was "very skeptical of taking the bait" of Syrian peace talks with Israel.