Olmert and Syrians Denies Syria-Israel Peace Plan

Seems that whenever anyone is in doubt as to find a fall guy, blame someone from the US:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday categorically denied that Israeli diplomats had held secret talks and reached agreements with Syrian representatives during former prime minister Ariel Sharon's term in office, saying that such talks "never existed - there wasn't even a fable [about it]."

Speaking during a tour of the West Bank, the prime minister said that no one had informed him of any such event taking place.

"I didn't know anything, and no one in the government knew," he said. "No government officials were involved in this matter."

The Syrians also deny any deal in the works.

Now, this could all be part of a plan to keep the details sketchy and give the diplomats more time to negotiate a deal. It is the kind of thing that diplomats do. It's a way to float trial balloons on various aspects of the deal to see what might be palatable and what wont. However, the alternative possibility - that this is all so much idle chatter is a strong contender.

Complicating matters is the launch of a criminal investigation into Olmert's financial dealings.