MAY 5, (LPAC)--On Friday, May 2, the Syrian Ambassador to the
United States held a two-hour meeting at the State Department
with Jeffrey Feltman, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of
State for Near East Affairs. Soon after the meeting, Ambassador
Imad Moustapha abruptly left for Damascus. According to Arab
press sources, Ambassador Moustapha confirmed the meeting, but
claimed that the topic was the recent U.S. allegations that Syria
and North Korea were building a secret plutonium reactor in a
remote area of Syria. The site was bombed by Israel last
September, and the U.S. Congress recently held hearings, at which
U.S. intelligence officials, relying on data provided by Israel,
claimed they had ``proof'' that the illegal nuclear collusion
between Syria and North Korea was in the advanced stages.

Arab sources believe that the subject of the unusual Foggy
Bottom meeting with the Syrian top diplomat in Washington was the
ongoing back-channel talks between Israel and Syria, mediated by
Turkey, on a comprehensive peace deal between the two neighboring states.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has said that any deal
with Israel must be brokered by the United States, and that the
Bush Administration will never support such a deal; therefore,
talks could begin next year, once Bush and Cheney have left
office. However, there are leading American patriots, who are
pushing a Syria-Israel peace deal now, as a means of building
momentum for a larger regional peace agreement, including the
stalled Israel-Palestine negotiations. Lyndon LaRouche has been
a strong promoter of an Israel-Syria deal, arguing that it would
shift the dynamic in the region, add a powerful war-avoidance
tilt at a moment when the Cheney crowd is pressing for a new war
against Iran, and could be easily achieved, given that both sides
are in agreement on ``ninety-eight percent'' of the issues.
According to one Arab source contacted today by Executive
Intelligence Review, a Syria-Israel deal would involve the return
of the Golan Heights to Syria, in return for Syrian guarantees
that Israel's security would be assured along its northern
border. Ironically, such a deal would reinforce Syria's role in
Lebanon, because Syria would necessarily play a key hand in the
transition of Hezbollah into a purely political entity.

The State Department official who met with Ambassador
Moustapha, Jeffrey Feltman, is a former U.S. Ambassador to
Lebanon.