Israel's Peres "sceptical" about UK's Syria overtures

LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said today he was sceptical about efforts by Britain to bring Syria into peace negotiations and that progress would be hard without the involvement of the United States too.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's foreign policy chief Nigel Sheinwald, the highest level British official to visit Damascus in years, met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem on Monday during an unannounced visit to Syria, diplomats and Syrian officials said.

''If you ask me, I am sceptical. Not because of Britain but because of Syria. They are running a double policy. On the one hand they are hosting the head of the Hamas organisation and they are helping Hezbollah...while on the other they talk about peace,'' Peres told reporters at a briefing in London.

''They don't need to make peace with the Europeans, they need to make peace with us. We support engagement by the Quartet. I think it will be very hard to have any negotiations without American participation,'' Peres added.

The Quartet comprises the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

Britain, along with France and other European countries, reduced contacts with Syria to a minimum after last year's assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

But diplomatic sources have testified in recent weeks to a slow thaw in Britain. While Blair is unlikely to announce any dramatic change in policy, they say, his government will increasingly encourage Syria to get involved in negotiations for peace in the Middle East -- a topic on which Blair has vowed to make progress in the limited time left to him as premier.

Asked if Britain was planning specific peace initiatives, a government source said a summit had been mulled over for the last couple of months.

''An international meeting involving Quartet and regional main players is still being talked about, though there's nothing to suggest concrete planning,'' the source said.

Blair's spokesman told a news briefing today: ''People are aware that the status quo really isn't an option in the Middle East, that we do need to try and move things forward.'' ''What is important is that we try and get a dynamic going in the right direction,'' the spokesman added, saying it was still Blair's intention to return to the region later this year.

About 2,000 Lebanese protested against Blair's visit to Beirut in September, accusing him of backing Israel's 34-day war with Hezbollah, and several ministers refused to meet him.

The United States has strained relations with Syria, which it accuses of aiding terrorism and fueling armed groups inside Iraq. President George W Bush said last week Syria should help in the Middle East by aiding Israel get back a soldier captured by Hamas and stop allowing Hamas and Hezbollah to plot attacks.

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