PMO denies peace message to Assad

[seriousstan]

Source: The Jerusalem Post

The Prime Minister's Office issued a rare "clarification" Wednesday that, in gentle diplomatic terms, contradicted US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's statement in Damascus that she had brought a message from Israel about a willingness to engage in peace talks.

According to the statement, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert emphasized in his meeting with Pelosi on Sunday that "although Israel is interested in peace with Syria, that country continues to be part of the Axis of Evil and a force that encourages terror in the entire Middle East."

Olmert, the statement clarified, told Pelosi that Syria's sincerity about a genuine peace with Israel would be judged by its willingness to "cease its support of terror, cease its sponsoring of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations, refrain from providing weapons to Hizbullah and bringing about the destabilizing of Lebanon, cease its support of terror in Iraq, and relinquish the strategic ties it is building with the extremist regime in Iran."

The statement said Olmert had not communicated to Pelosi any change in Israeli policy on Damascus.



Read more: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879247562&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[Tempest]

1. This in no way contradicts what Pelosi has said

Pelosi also made it clear Israel's demands that Syria stop supporting terrorist groups before peace talks would begin.

[bemildred]

2. Frankly, Pelosi has way more credibility than Olmert

I wonder if Bush pressured him to make this statement or he thought it up on his own.

[Turbineguy]

3. "Axis of Evil"

What a clever expression Olmert has come up with! Maybe Bush should use that one in one of his speeches.

On edit: Oops! I forgot: :sarcasm:

[Kagemusha]

4. The spin is therefore, Israel is ready for peace - but Syria isn't, so nya nya nya

The "gentle diplomatic terms" really aren't and it's basically saying, that dumb broad messed everything up. That's the maturity I expect from Olmert.

[Kingofalldems]

5. You can fool some of the people some of the time.

Nice try. And thanks for your concern.

[Spazito]

6. LOL, Olmert does have the talent for speaking out of both sides

of his mouth, imo. Gotta love those "clarifications", I just wonder if they were faxed, e-mailed or phoned to Olmert from the White House, I suspect the phone myself.