Sarkozy's Play For Mideast Peacemaker
This report was written by CBS News' George Baghdadi, traveling with the Syrian President in Paris.
French President Nicola Sarkozy is holding a rare meeting with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad on Saturday, believing he can secure a role for France in the ever-elusive quest for peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors before a new U.S. administration takes office.
Relations between France and Syria have been strained since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a February 2005 bombing in Beirut, blamed widely on Damascus.
Paris decided to shun Syrian officials after the murder, particularly in light of then-French President Jacques Chirac's strong personal ties to Hariri.
Syria has consistently denied any involvement in the killing.
Sarkozy opened up to Damascus for believing that his moves and his friendship with the Jewish state will open doors for him. He trusts that Assad would pay him back as he crosses the gates of the Elysee Presidential Palace, a political extravaganza that could possibly signal the beginning of the end of Syria's isolation.
After the set of talks, the Syrian leader will take part in a summit Sunday marking the launch of the Mediterranean Union, which will gather some 40 European and Mediterranean leaders in bids to boost cooperation between the European Union and Mediterranean rim states.
Most significantly, perhaps, Sarkozy's Mediterranean Union initiative will mark the first time a Syrian president has ever sat at the same table as an Israeli delegation (although there will be no handshakes or souvenir photos for the participants).
Assad, accompanied by his wife Asma and several of his ministers, will stay in Paris after the summit for France's Bastille Day celebrations. He will watch the massive military parade pass from the iconic Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde - his very presence truly unthinkable only a few weeks ago.
Syrian official sources told CBS News that Sarkozy was making plans to fly to Damascus next month to further ties with a country that was a former French colony. Syria may represent Paris' greatest possible sphere of influence in the Middle East.
Indeed, with U.S. mediation efforts in the Arab-Israeli conflict faltering, France could be striking at an opportune moment as it heads the rotating presidency of the E.U.
In an interview with the French daily Le Monde on Wednesday, Assad welcomed the French "break," and said Syria was not prepared to offer any concessions to this U.S. administration.
"Frankly, we do not think that the current American administration is capable of making peace. It doesn't have either the will or the vision, and it only has a few months left," he said.
Politically, Sarkozy seems confident that by extending his hand to Damascus, he would eventually succeed in distancing Syria from Iran; the West's key foe in the region.
"The French leader has realized that global isolation and dealing with Syria as an axis-of-evil country has turned to be more harming," said political analyst Thabet Salem. "It brought Syria closer to Iran and made it more dependent on Tehran's economic and political support."
Economic considerations are likely to have played an important part in France's openness and in Syria's recent push for international respectability, which has included inviting the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit Syria and examine U.S. claims that the building bombed by Israel last September was intended to house a covert nuclear reactor. Most significantly, it agreed to hold indirect, Turkish-mediated talks with Israel after an eight-year freeze. The talks are expected to be upgraded soon to face-to-face negotiations, and Sarkozy seemingly wants to move fast to get a credit.
The last direct talks - between then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara - stalled in 2000 in a dispute over how much of the Golan Heights (which Israel captured in a 1967 war) should go back to Syria.
"The benefits for Mr. Sarkozy would also fasten down the prospect of major commercial deals: A French consultant is working on engineering designs for the Damascus metro, a project that would appear to be tailor-made for French contractors, and the Toulouse-based Airbus Industrie could be in line for a contract to re-equip Syria's national airline, whose fleet is now down to just six serviceable aircraft," according to Marwan Qablan, a Syrian political analyst.
"Resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict has always been beyond France's capability, let alone its interests," Oablan added. "The Barcelona process failed mainly because of the tension and lack of trust between the Arabs and Israel. The Mediterranean project might act as a catalyst to increasing European involvement to resolve the conflict; and from Sarkozy's point of view protect Israel."