Syrian-Israeli negotiations to resume by the end of this summer

Arab diplomatic sources told the London-based al-Hayat daily that US Undersecretary of State for Middle East Affairs Martin Indyk will be the US official to supervise Syrian - Israeli negotiations when they are resumed by the end of this month.

In its Sunday issue, the paper added that the Syrian - Israeli negotiations are expected to be extended to the Lebanese track on the ground that Beirut and Damascus are of identical views on the cohesion between the Syrian and Lebanese tracks.

The paper said, according to the Arab diplomatic sources, that choosing Indyk for that purpose came for two reasons: The first is that the US Middle East peace coordinator, Dennis Ross, prefers to concentrate on the Palestinian track, and the second is that Indyk was able to initiate a successful dialogue with Damascus during the stalemate period the Syrian track witnessed under the government of outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.