WASHINGTON (CNN) — Syria, which the U.S. State Department calls a sponsor of terrorism, announced Sunday it will join Israelis and other officials at this week’s Mideast peace summit in Maryland.
Rather than sending its foreign minister, Syria said it would dispatch Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad to Tuesday’s conference in Annapolis, reports Syria’s state-run news agency SANA.
Damascus’ announcement comes less than three months after Israeli warplanes attacked a site in Syria reported to be a facility linked to nuclear weapons.
Israel, which captured the Golan Heights region from Syria in 1967, has sent Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to the talks. It’s unclear whether the Golan Heights would be part of the talks, which U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said are meant to encourage a Palestinian-Israeli deal resulting in a Palestinian state.
Olmert arrived for the Mideast peace talks Sunday at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in the United States on Saturday, as anxiety over possible Palestinian concessions prompted protesters to take to the streets of Gaza. Watch Gaza protests
Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisen welcomed Damascus’ decision to attend — regardless of its dispatch of the deputy instead of Syria’s foreign minister himself.
It’s positive that Syria chose to send anybody, Eisen told CNN’s Late Edition. We weren’t sure they would. The fact that they’re choosing to send somebody who is openly Syrian … [to] a conference which is all about the Israeli-Palestinian track is an important one.
Israel accuses Syria of helping Palestinian militants who oppose the Jewish state’s existence. It says Damascus is helping Iran and its anti-Israel policy.
Like Iran, Syria is listed on the U.S. State Department’s roster of State Sponsors of Terrorism along with Cuba, North Korea and Sudan.
Before Syria’s announcement, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized the conference, saying it would serve the interests of Israel only, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe told CNN that Iran is clearly not prepared to play a constructive role in the region, which makes them an outlier, given the broad attendance at the conference from countries around the region and around the world.
Damascus and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia have been reluctant to participate in the conference, but agreed to take part on a ministerial level as part of an Arab initiative spelled out by the Arab League which discussed its participation at a meeting in Cairo on Friday.
Our participation there, from the substantive standpoint — the talks, contacts and discussions — will be based on the Arab initiative, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said.
And we will come back holding onto the Arab initiative because it is the only basis that could lead to peace and the positive outcome which we have been promising through this initiative.
The Arab League is one of several international groups, including the Group of Eight and the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, invited to attend the conference.
The United States hopes to have a strong international backing for the conference, which has been touted by Rice as more than just a photo-op or a meeting for the sake of meeting.
Shortly after agreeing to attend on Friday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal acknowledged the country had been hesitant to participate.
If it were not for the Arab consensus we witnessed today for attending the conference, we would not attend, al-Faisal said.
But Saudi Arabia has never defied any Arab consensus; as long as there is such an Arab consensus, then Saudi Arabia will go along with her brothers in unity.
Palestinian Authority leader Abbas welcomed the Arab League’s decision, saying, Now the Arab brothers are in negotiation.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni expressed hope that the summit will spark a renewed peace effort.
Over the coming week I expect to see both sides, the Israeli and the Palestinian, launching a peace process that will begin after the conference, Livni said Sunday.
I expect the Arab World to stop sitting on the fence and come to support the bilateral path.
Livni said the conference will draw a line between moderates and extremists in the Arab world.
There will be those who are here, those who support the process, and there will be those who are shouting — Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah, she said. They will be on the outside trying to stop this conference from happening.
Rice has aid the United States sees the establishment of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution as absolutely essential for the future, not just of Palestinians and Israelis but also for the Middle East and indeed to American interests.
During a joint news conference with Rice on October 15, Abbas indicated his negotiators had already agreed on some issues with Israel, but he did not offer details.
Rice described both sides as working with great seriousness and great commitment to avoid a conference that might prove fruitless. We quite frankly have better things to do than invite people to Annapolis for a photo op, Rice said.
She said the conference has to trigger the negotiations on the final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. That agreement must involve looking to improve the lives of Palestinians economically, to improve the lives of the Palestinians in terms of movement and access.
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