Somebody Caught Fibbing? Olmert Denies Giving Pelosi A "Peace" Message
From the Jerusalem Post:
The Prime Minister's Office issued a rare "clarification" Wednesday that, in gentle diplomatic terms, contradicted US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's statement in Damascus that she had brought a message from Israel about a willingness to engage in peace talks.
According to the statement, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert emphasized in his meeting with Pelosi on Sunday that "although Israel is interested in peace with Syria, that country continues to be part of the Axis of Evil and a force that encourages terror in the entire Middle East."
Olmert, the statement clarified, told Pelosi that Syria's sincerity about a genuine peace with Israel would be judged by its willingness to "cease its support of terror, cease its sponsoring of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations, refrain from providing weapons to Hizbullah and bringing about the destabilizing of Lebanon, cease its support of terror in Iraq, and relinquish the strategic ties it is building with the extremist regime in Iran."
The statement said Olmert had not communicated to Pelosi any change in Israeli policy on Damascus.
Pelosi, who met in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad over the objections of US President George W. Bush, said she brought a message to Assad from Olmert saying that Israel was ready for peace talks.
"We were very pleased with the reassurances we received from the president [Assad] that he was ready to resume the peace process. He was ready to engage in negotiations for peace with Israel," Pelosi said after meeting Assad.
She said the meeting with the Syrian leader "enabled us to communicate a message from Prime Minister Olmert that Israel was ready to engage in peace talks as well."
I am sure that Prime Minister Olmert would enjoy solid, honest negotiations with Syria, but as his statement above states, Mr. Assad must make recognizable steps to sever connections to terrorists. Right now, he has yet to do that. Mr. Assad is still supporting Hezbollah, which is still sending rockets into Israel despite the UN force that is on the border supposedly enforcing the cease fire.
Speaker Pelosi made a big mistake in conveying she had a message from Prime Minister Olmert, and this is not a clarification on his part. It is a slap in the face for her. She lied. She bald-face lied to Mr. Assad, and she got caught. I wonder how the media will spin this one. Will it be explained that she misspoke, or that Mr. Assad took her comment out of context?
Marcie
The Prime Minister's Office issued a rare "clarification" Wednesday that, in gentle diplomatic terms, contradicted US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's statement in Damascus that she had brought a message from Israel about a willingness to engage in peace talks.
According to the statement, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert emphasized in his meeting with Pelosi on Sunday that "although Israel is interested in peace with Syria, that country continues to be part of the Axis of Evil and a force that encourages terror in the entire Middle East."
Olmert, the statement clarified, told Pelosi that Syria's sincerity about a genuine peace with Israel would be judged by its willingness to "cease its support of terror, cease its sponsoring of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations, refrain from providing weapons to Hizbullah and bringing about the destabilizing of Lebanon, cease its support of terror in Iraq, and relinquish the strategic ties it is building with the extremist regime in Iran."
The statement said Olmert had not communicated to Pelosi any change in Israeli policy on Damascus.
Pelosi, who met in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad over the objections of US President George W. Bush, said she brought a message to Assad from Olmert saying that Israel was ready for peace talks.
"We were very pleased with the reassurances we received from the president [Assad] that he was ready to resume the peace process. He was ready to engage in negotiations for peace with Israel," Pelosi said after meeting Assad.
She said the meeting with the Syrian leader "enabled us to communicate a message from Prime Minister Olmert that Israel was ready to engage in peace talks as well."
I am sure that Prime Minister Olmert would enjoy solid, honest negotiations with Syria, but as his statement above states, Mr. Assad must make recognizable steps to sever connections to terrorists. Right now, he has yet to do that. Mr. Assad is still supporting Hezbollah, which is still sending rockets into Israel despite the UN force that is on the border supposedly enforcing the cease fire.
Speaker Pelosi made a big mistake in conveying she had a message from Prime Minister Olmert, and this is not a clarification on his part. It is a slap in the face for her. She lied. She bald-face lied to Mr. Assad, and she got caught. I wonder how the media will spin this one. Will it be explained that she misspoke, or that Mr. Assad took her comment out of context?
Marcie
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 11:07 AM
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