WarSclerotic

Fearing isolation following the U.N. Security Council decision to sanction Iran, Syria has signaled its intention to resume negotiations with Israel – this time without Turkey, and perhaps with the aid of the United States instead.

U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, who was invited to Damascus by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, first decided to fly to Israel to check the waters there and see if Tel Aviv wanted to convey any messages to Damascus, diplomatic sources told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Sunday.

According to the Israeli press, Israel repeated the well-known message that it was willing to resume talks with Syria immediately without any preconditions. The senator from Pennsylvania held further talks with Syrian officials in Damascus and was due to return to Israel on Monday, the diplomatic sources said.

Turkey, which previously mediated four indirect rounds of peace talks between Israel and Syria, has fallen out of favor as a go-between due to its strained ties with Israel in the wake of the Gaza flotilla attack, as well as its dissenting vote in the U.N. Security Council.

“Syria wanted to open up to the West via Turkey but if the Turkish-Western relationship is being harmed as a result of many developments, including Turkey’s ‘no’ vote on the Iran sanctions, Syrian-Turkish relations become less attractive,” said one diplomatic observer familiar with the region. “Turkish-Syrian relations are good for the sake of the two countries but they are not good enough or satisfactory for Syrian interests as Damascus is also willing to have good relations with the West.”

Talks between Israel and Syria were suspended following the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. After the Israeli offensive in Gaza in late 2008, Syria ruled out a resumption of indirect talks, but al-Assad recently signaled that he may be reassessing that stance.

At a July 5 press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Madrid, al-Assad said the disruption in Israeli-Turkish relations would make it difficult for Syrian-Israeli peace talks to take place with Turkey’s participation.

A Syrian analyst, however, challenged the argument that Damascus had changed its position toward Turkish mediation, though he admitted that matters have become complicated since Israeli’s deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, killing eight Turks and one American of Turkish descent.

“Syria insists that Turkey be the main mediator,” said Marwan al-Kabalan of the Center for Strategic Studies at Damascus University. “The idea is we trust Turkey as a mediator. I am not sure if Syria will be happy with other mediators but we don’t mind if other countries are involved too.”

France reportedly plans to appoint envoy for Syria-Israel talks

France offers another potential channel for reactivating Syria-Israel talks, and one that may prove more palatable to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has not been enthusiastic about Turkish involvement but has friendly ties with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Sarkozy plans to appoint a former ambassador to Damascus, Jean-Claude Cousseran, as a mediator in charge of handling any future negotiations between Israel and Syria, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat reported Sunday. French sources told the newspaper that Cousseran would be designated to mediate negotiations between Israel and Syria because both parties would likely accept his involvement.

“The Turkish channel is not an option so far,” one diplomatic source told the Daily News. “In fact, there has been no mediation for almost a year and a half. There are other attempts to revive negotiations.”