Diplomats push Syria to pressure ally Hamas
2009-01-06

Category United Nations Hezbollah Hamas Nations Syria Lebanon Category Regions Regions Asia Middle East People Mahmoud Abbas Nicolas Sarkozy Ban Ki-moon Gordon Brown Hosni Mubarak Condoleezza Rice Tony Blair Event 2009 Gaza War Hamas Gaza Conflict Source (AP)

DAMASCUS, Syria - France's president sought Syrian help Tuesday to bring a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice headed to the United Nations for meetings with Arab and European leaders.

The diplomacy drive showed little gains, though, as fighting in Gaza between the militant Palestinian group Hamas and Israeli forces raged for an 11th day, with almost 600 dead.

In the middle of a whirlwind Mideast tour, French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged his hosts in Syria to pressure Hamas to help end the fighting. Syria, along with Iran, is a key backer of Hamas, and it hosts the exiled political leadership of the group and other radical Palestinian factions.

"Syria must help us to convince Hamas to choose the voice of reason and peace," Sarkozy said, adding there can be no military solution.

Syrian President Bashar Assad did not respond to Sarkozy's call, instead slamming the Israeli offensive in Gaza as an "aggression" that must halt.

Assad said he agreed with Sarkozy on the need for a quick resolution to the "humanitarian tragedy" and for a cease-fire, Israeli withdrawal and the lifting of the blockade of Gaza. He made no mention of Hamas stopping rocket attacks on Israel.

In the past, Assad refused Israeli and U.S. demands to drop support for militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, saying "armed resistance" against the Israeli occupation is justified.

Sarkozy already talked with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli leaders and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during his tour. He arrived later Tuesday in Lebanon and planned to return to Egypt in the evening.

Egyptian officials also increased pressure on the Syria-based Hamas leadership to accept a cease-fire.

Egypt, which has a peace deal with Israel has sometimes played a mediator role between Israel and Hamas, wants Hamas to cooperate with international efforts to end the Gaza conflict, Egyptian officials close to the negotiations said Tuesday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

Egypt's influential intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, and a delegation of Syria-based Hamas leaders spoke in Cairo on Tuesday.

"The message Hamas is getting (from Suleiman) is that without a cease-fire the Palestinians will be in a grave danger and everything they have achieved so far will be gone," one of the Egyptian officials said.

Meanwhile, Rice hoped to broker a "sustainable" cease-fire as soon as possible at the United Nations. She planned to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and attend a U.N. Security Council meeting on Gaza, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Rice also was scheduled to talk with Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan as well as her British and French counterparts, David Miliband and Bernard Kouchner. Meetings with Arab officials were expected Wednesday.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and the foreign ministers of Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco planned meetings with envoys from other Arab nations, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Security Council members. Some Arab nations pressed the Security Council to pass a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

Also involved in the diplomatic push was international Mideast envoy Tony Blair, who said Tuesday in Jerusalem that the key to ending the violence in Gaza was ensuring that weapons were no longer being smuggled into Gaza for Hamas.

In London, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for Gaza's borders to be opened Monday. He said he had been talking to other world leaders to push for an immediate cease-fire.

A European Union delegation, including foreign policy chief Javier Solana, was touring the Middle East.

In Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI told pilgrims and tourists he wanted to encourage efforts to get Israelis and Palestinians to sit down together in peace talks. The Vatican has said the pope would like to go the Holy Land on a pilgrimage this spring, but no concrete plans have been made.

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Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington and Salah Nasrawi in Cairo, Egypt, contributed to this report.