Israel and Hezbollah have been making indirect contacts through a German mediator acting under the auspices of the United Nations.
He claims to have "indirect contacts" with the US, and hints he believes support may be forthcoming.
It is no secret that some US commanders on the ground have informal and indirect contacts with their opponents, mostly via Sunni mosques and tribal elders.
I am reasonably sure that such contacts, such third-party interaction, such indirect contacts between India and Pakistan through intermediaries do help in defusing tension".
Perhaps to mute criticism, Israeli officials said that indirect contacts about ending the operation had begun with Yasir Arafat's Palestinian Authority, but the Palestinians denied the suggestion.
Mr. Zapatero cut off the talks after ETA bombed Madrid's airport in December 2006, then admitted in January of this year that indirect contacts had continued.
Perhaps to mute criticism, Israeli officials said indirect contacts about ending the operation had begun with the Palestinian Authority, which is led by Yasir Arafat, but the Palestinians denied that.
"We have direct and indirect contacts with the security services and my sense is that it looks like there's some kind of panic developing as they don't have any idea of who might be responsible," he said.
The ayatollah's ties to Tehran have made him a suspect figure in Washington, although his organization has maintained indirect contacts with various American administrations because of its consistently virulent opposition to the Hussein government.
Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the president, who has held indirect contacts with Mullah Baradar in the past, welcomed his arrest as serving a "death blow" to the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar.
Except for that meeting and what he called indirect contacts with the authorities in Guangdong Province, where Wukan is located, protest leaders appear to have had no sustained negotiations to end the standoff.
