Israel Matzav

Mr. Slimfast meets a Syrian

The Jerusalem Post reports this evening that Daniel Abraham, the owner of Slim Fast, who has often acted in the past as an envoy for Shimon Peres, met with the Syrian ambassador to the United States, Imad Mustapha, on Ehud Olmert's behalf, and received "positive and moderate" messages from him.

Olmert admits that the meeting took place, but denies that any 'secret messages' were passed between him and the Syrians.

This comes on the heels of an interview with Syrian Foreign Minister Waleed Moallem in the Washington Post on Sunday that Syria was willing to return to the negotiation table "without preconditions," specifying that negotiations could begin without Syria demanding the return of the Golan Heights as an a priori condition to any peace proposal. It also comes on the heels of several stories yesterday about 'secret letters' between Assad and Olmert, which both of them denied.

This gives Olmert's denials even less credibility than usual.

Meanwhile, Mossad chief Meir Dagan told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee yesterday that Israel should not take the Syrian peace overture seriously because Damascus is "more prepared than ever before" to take military action against Israel.

"Israel's military deterrence was damaged in the second Lebanon war," Dagan told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "[Syrian President Bashar] Assad's self-confidence grew. They are prepared to take more risks than in the past."

Dagan went on to say that the Syrian army was building up its anti-tank missile units, after having seen that tanks were Israel's Achilles' heel in this summer's war.

He also told the committee that Syria was stocking up on anti-aircraft weaponry in preparation for a possible aerial attack by the IAF.

"Any misstep" could trigger an armed conflict with Syria, stressed Dagan. If Israel were to send a warning signal to Assad - as it did in June when IAF jets buzzed his summer palace while the Syrian leader was in residence - it would be reason enough for Syria to wage war, he said.

But we all know that Ehud Olmert knows better than the army and better than the Mossad. And that's why Olmert, Livni and Peretz continue to fiddle while Israel continues to burn.

By the way, read the whole thing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:12 AM