Israel cancels Syrian opposition meeting

Press TV

Wed May 18, 2011 9:8AM

Israel's deputy minister for development of the Negev and Galilee Ayoob Kara

A meeting between an Israeli deputy minister and Syrian opposition members which was set to take place in Austria's capital, Vienna, has been canceled.

The meeting was scheduled to be held in the offices of Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), AFP quoted a spokesman for the party as saying.

Ayoob Kara, Israel's deputy minister for development of the Negev and Galilee, was initially scheduled to meet five Syrian opposition members to discuss the prospect of a Syria without President Bashar al-Assad.

But Kara -- an envoy for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- canceled the meeting due to “security reasons,” the report said.

The cancelation is also said to be due to Kara's reluctance to risk “jeopardizing” Israel's stance on the recent crisis in Syria.

Scores of people, including several security forces and soldiers, have been killed in Syria since the beginning of protests in mid-March.

While the opposition accuses the security forces of being behind the killings, Syrian authorities blame armed groups and foreign elements for the violence, saying security forces have been given clear instructions not to hurt civilians.

Damascus says it has arrested several members of armed terrorist groups, who have confessed to receiving weapons and money from foreign organizations to kill civilians and security forces in a bid to cause chaos in the country.

Israel has so far supported the turmoil in Syria, claiming that it is in line with Tel Aviv's interests as it would weaken Damascus' ties with Iran, Lebanon's Hezbollah and the democratically elected government of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

FF/AKM/HRF

Austrian far-right party hosts Syria-Israel meeting

Israeli official to meet members of Syrian opposition on post-Assad Syria under Austrian conservatives' sponsorshipAFP , Tuesday 17 May 2011

An Israeli deputy minister is to meet members of the Syrian opposition in the offices of Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) in Vienna later on Tuesday, an FPOe spokesman revealed.

The Israeli official is Ayoob Kara, deputy minister for development of the Negev and Galilee, and he will meet five Syrian opposition members, the names of whom were not revealed, said spokesman Karl-Heinz Gruensteidl, confirming a corresponding report in the tabloid daily Oesterreich.

FPOe chief Heinz-Christian Strache would then brief the press about the outcome of the meeting on Wednesday morning, Gruensteidl told the Austrian news agency APA.

The main topic of the discussions would be a post-Assad Syria, Gruensteidl said, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, under fire over the violent clampdown against pro-democracy protests sweeping his country.

The meeting was engineered by the Vienna-based FPOe politician David Lasar, who suggested that Kara would be taking part as the personal envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, APA reported.

"Europe is doing nothing. The US is doing nothing. The whole world is just waiting," Lasar said.

The Austrian far-right party had made its offices available for the talks, buit would only act as mediator, Lasar added.

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