Blair's Syrian peace initiative fails to impress· Israel and US sceptical of progress from envoy's trip
· Labour conference lunch prompted mission
Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor
Thursday November 2, 2006
The GuardianThe governments of Israel and the US responded coolly yesterday to Tony Blair's
secret diplomatic initiative to urge Syria to restart Middle East peace talks.
Mr Blair, who has pledged to devote the remainder of his premiership to tackling
the region's conflict, sent his senior envoy, Sir Nigel Sheinwald, to meet the
Syrian president in Damascus on Monday.
Shimon Peres, Israel's deputy prime minister, said in London: "I wouldn't like
to make any remarks about British movements (but) I'm sceptical, not because
of Britain but because of the Syrians."
-snip-The White House also distanced itself from Mr Blair's initiative. Tony Snow,
George Bush's press secretary, said the administration was concerned over what
it called mounting evidence that Syria and Iran were joining Hizbullah to try to
topple the Lebanese government through demonstrations, violence and threats
against Lebanese leaders.
The White House, responding to calls to engage with Syria and Iran, reiterated
last week that it had no plans to open a dialogue with either Damascus or Tehran.
-snip-