The Israeli government does not oppose Syria's participation in the Middle East peace conference slated for November despite increasing tensions on the Israeli- Syrian front, national popular daily Ha'aretz reported Monday.
"The United States is the one that will issue the invitations and that will define the criteria for the invitations, and we have no problem with whomever they decide to invite," spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Miri Eisin was quoted by Ha' aretz as saying.
Another senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the newspaper that "We have no objections to Syria participating as long as the talks stay only on the Palestinian track."
On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed hope that key Arab nations, including Syria, will attend a Mideast peace conference this fall to be hosted by U.S. President George W. Bush.
Rice said invitations have not been issued yet, but "we would hope that the invitations would include the members of the Arab follow-up committee ... charged by the Arab League with following up with the international community on an Arab Peace Initiative" to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The Arab Peace Initiative, first approved in 2002 and reactivated during an Arab summit in Riyadh this March, offers to extend recognition to Israel by all Arab countries provided that it withdraws from all Arab territories it occupied in the 1967 six- day war, including East Jerusalem.
The Arab committee members are Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen. Of these Arab nations, only Egypt and Jordan have peace deals with Israel.
On July 16, U.S. President George W. Bush proposed to hold the international conference, which would include Israel, the Palestinians and some neighboring Arab states, to help resume the stalled Middle East peace talks.
Source: Xinhua
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