Middle East Inside Line: Syria-Iran Meeting, Australia Warning to Israel

Iran-Syria Summit: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in his two-day visit, met with Syrian President Bashar Assad (see also our Iran updates).

Ahmadinejad said that Arab nations will usher in a new Middle East without Zionists and without colonialists. He added:

If the Zionist regime wants to repeat its past mistakes, this will constitute its demise and annihilation.

(The Americans) want to dominate the region but they feel Iran and Syria are preventing that. We tell them that instead of interfering in the region's affairs, to pack their things and leave.

Assad's response to Washington's stance toward Iran was to denounce a "new situation of colonialism in the region."

In Israel, President Shimon Peres was critical of Assad:

A peace deal with Syria could have been signed 30 years ago, as was done with Egypt. It was not us who delayed a deal, it was the Syrians. Syria believed that time would stand by its side.

The time has come to say the truth. The problem in the Middle East is not the Palestinian problem, the Palestinian problem will be solved in the framework of the peace process with Israel. The central problem in the Middle East is Iran's effort to control it. The central problem in the Middle East is the insanity of Ahmadinejad.

Assad needs to decide to go with Iran on an axis of evil and terror or to make peace with Israel.

Australia Warning to Israeli over Dubai Assassination: Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith responded harshly to the alleged use of three forged Australian passports in the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai:

I made it crystal clear to the ambassador that if the results of that investigation cause us to come to the conclusion that the abuse of Australian passports was in any way sponsored or condoned by Israeli officials, then Australia would not regard that as an act of a friend.

Middle East Inside Line: Sarkozy on Palestine State, Barak in US for Iran Talks, Son of Hamas Founder Spied for Israel

Sarkozy Steps Back from Palestinian State: On Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the leader of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas discussed the future of negotiations and a Palestinian state. Sarkozy made two points: there should be no unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state before borders are defined with Israel, and there was no time to be waste in starting negotiations since "if there are no talks....we take the risk, the international community, of a third intifada".

Abbas supported Sarkozy's line, "Negotiations first, proclamation of a state later."

Israel Pushes Washington for Harsher Sanctions on Iran: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak left for the US on Tuesday, for five days of talks with senior American officials, including US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that will focus on Iran.

PA Security Prevents Attacks into Israel: According to Haaretz, the Palestinian Authority prevented a suicide attack about six weeks ago that a young woman (from Islamic Jihad) from Nablus had planned to carry out in Israel. Palestinian security sources said that it was not the first success to thwart such terrorist activities.
Shimon Peres Advocates Extension of Heritage Sites in West Bank: Israeli President Shimon Peres, during his meeting with Robert Serry, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said Wednesday that Hamas is trying to create an artificial conflict over the extension of Israeli national heritage sites in the West Bank. On Tuesday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya urging Palestinians in the West Bank to rise up against Israeli forces after the Israeli cabinet added the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's tomb in Bethlehem to the list of sites.

Top Hamas Official's Son Worked for Israel's Shin Bet: Haaretz says that Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of leading Hamas figure Sheikh Hassan Yousef, served for over a decade as the most valuable source for Israel's Shin Bet domestic security service. During the second Intifada, Haaretz says,information Yousef gathered led to the arrests of a number of high-ranking Palestinian figures responsible for planning deadly suicide bombings.