Sharon, Netanyahu deny Russian mediation with Syria
Syria-Israel-Russia, Politics, 4/14/1999

Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon has denied news published by the Israeli daily Haaretz on Tuesday that he asked the Russian leadership to convey a verbal message to Syria including a proposal to resume negotiations between Syria and Israel.

At the meantime, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also denied such news.

Israel Radio quoted Sharon as saying in a special interview that this news is null, adding that such an issue was not debated in his talks with officials in Moscow. Sharon added during the interview that he opposes withdrawal from the Golan in the context of a settlement with Syria and opposes withdrawal from or in the Golan.

Sharon added that he supports Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon without being linked to a settlement with Syria. He added that his talks with the Russians dealt with how to urge Syria to stop its aid to the Hizbullah party.

On Tuesday, the Israeli daily Haaretz said that Sharon asked Russia to convey a verbal message from Israel to Syria including a proposal to resume negotiations between the two sides according to two stages. The first stage is based on withdrawal from south Lebanon. Such a withdrawal starts and ends before and after the Israeli elections and it is preferable that Russia will carry out the mediation, while during the second stage discussions will deal with Israel's withdrawal from the Golan and determining the security and peace agreements between Israel and Syria. This stage would start after the reelection of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli paper said Sharon's proposal did not indicate the volume of the area from which Israel will withdraw or the response to the Syrian demands to return back to the 1967 border. Estimates note that Syria will reject these proposals.

Haaretz added that the question of the Russian mediation between Israel and Syria was on top of topics tackled by Sharon in Moscow.

The paper, on the other hand, said Syria finds that Russia cannot carry out such a mediation without an active role played by Washington, saying, "Damascus understands that without U.S. involvement in the process, there would be neither a carrot nor a stick in Russian hands to force Israel to complete the second stage of the deal."

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