Jerusalem - Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said
Sunday he was willing to hold peace talks with Syria, but without any
prior conditions, such as a guaranteed Israeli return of the occupied
Golan Heights.
'I'd be happy to hold negotiations with Syria even tonight, but
without preconditions, without an ultimatum,' he said.
Although the new Israeli government has yet to formally announce
its peace policies, both Lieberman and Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu have said in the past that they oppose returning the Golan,
a strategic plateau which overlooks northern Israel.
Syria however demands the return of the territory, which the
Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, as a pre-condition for
peace with the Jewish state.
The last round of direct negotiations between the two sides
collapsed in early 2000 over the question of the extent of an Israeli
withdrawal.
Syria demanded a complete withdrawal, but Israel wanted a buffer
zone and would not agree to a Syrian presence on the north-eastern
shore of the Sea of Galilee, as existed before the 1967 war.
Indirect talks between Israel and Syria resumed last year under
Turkish mediation.
But in an interview with the Jerusalem Post Friday, Lieberman
said Syria's ties with Iran negated resuming these talks.
Israel regards Iran as an existential threat because of Tehran's
nuclear programme and comments by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that
the Jewish state should be wiped off the map.
Israel is also angry at Damascus' support for militant groups such
as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, which deny its right to
exist.
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