Israel's beleaguered prime minister Ehud Olmert says a peace deal is close between Israel and the Palestinians. And says Israel is moving toward direct talks with Syria.
If this happens before the end of the year, this would be the best news to come out during the Bush administration. But the latest potential peace broker is not the United States. But France. The announcement comes at the end of a meeting between Olmert, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and French Pres. Nicholas Sarkozy.
The United States had hoped to spark peace talks following a meeting last year in Annapolis. But those efforts have proved disappointing.
Possibly derailing all this is the police net that is tightening around Olmert who is facing an official corruption investigation.
2 comments:
Let's pray that this is real and not just some political manuevering from Olmert to hand onto office during the corruption investigation.
It would be fantastic if peace were achieved in this region, or at least some positive steps towards concrete agreements. What still puzzles me though is just who is Olmert negotiating with? Is it the Fatah faction, but not the Hamas faction, or is Abbas claiming to speak for the people from the Palestinian Authority as a whole? Maybe I missed that bit of information, and I would be pleased if someone could enlighten me.
I find it equally interesting that Syria's President also talks about the possibility of direct contact with Israel but states he will hold off that course of action until the new US President is in place! Why?
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