Turkish PM confirms mediation efforts for Syrian-Israeli peace
By The Associated Press
Turkey's prime minister says his country is mediating between Syria and Israel in an effort to secure peace.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey will try to restart low-level negotiations between the sides with the aim of eventually getting the countries' leaders together. He was speaking in Ankara on Saturday on his return from a trip to Damascus, where he attended a Turkish-Syrian business meeting and held talks with President Bashar Assad.
"There was a request from Syria and Israel for this kind of an effort and Turkey will do its best in this regard," Erdogan said.
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"This effort will start among the lower level (officials) and if they are successful, God willing, they will end with a higher level meeting," the prime minister said.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/978058.html
Syrian ambassador to U.S. says CIA fabricated photos of alleged nuclear reactor
By Reuters
Syria's ambassador to the United States said Friday that the CIA fabricated pictures allegedly taken inside a secret Syrian nuclear reactor and predicted that in coming weeks the U.S. story about the site would implode from within.
"The photos presented to me yesterday were ludicrous, laughable," Ambassador Imad Moustapha told reporters at his Washington residence.
He refused to say what the building in the remote eastern desert of Syria was used for before Israeli jets bombed it in September 2007.
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Senior U.S. intelligence officials said Thursday they believe it was a secret nuclear reactor meant to produce plutonium, which can be used to make high-yield nuclear weapons. They alleged that North Korea aided in the design, construction and outfitting of the building.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/978052.html
Last update - 10:33 26/04/2008
IAEA slams Israel for bombing alleged nuclear reactor in Syria
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent and The Associated Press
The United Nations nuclear monitoring agency on Friday slammed Israel for an Israel Air Forces strike last September on an alleged nuclear reactor in Syria.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said "the unilateral use of force by Israel as undermining the due process of verification that is at the heart of the nonproliferation regime," in a statement released Friday.
IAEA Chief Mohammed ElBaradei said that by deciding to unilaterally bomb the site on September 6, 2007, Israel destroyed evidence that could have supported or refuted the claims the site was in fact a nuclear facility.
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ElBaradei also criticized the U.S. on Friday for not giving his organization intelligence information sooner on what Washington says was a nuclear reactor in Syria being built secretly by North Korea.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/978043.html
Last update - 00:21 25/04/2008
News / Top U.S. official: Syria site threatened to spread nuke arms technology
By Haaretz Staff and Channel 10
Haaretz.com/Channel 10 news roundup for April 24, 2008.
In this edition:
A top member of the U.S. House of Representatives intelligence committee says the suspected nuclear site in Syria that Israel attacked last year threatened to spread nuclear weapons technology.
The Prime Minister's Office says Israel is genuinely interested in peace with Syria.
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The postponement of the Amos 3 communications satellite's launch causes presidential embarrassment.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/977828.html
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