Middle East News

Apr 26, 2009, 8:38 GMT

Israeli foreign minister: Talks with Syria without preconditions

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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