Israeli PM says ready to resume talks with Syria

JERUSALEM, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday his government is ready to renew peace talks with Syria without preconditions and preferably at a direct manner.

"Israel is prepared to hold negotiations without precondition with the Syrians. I prefer direct talks," local daily The Jerusalem Post quoted him as saying at a weekly cabinet meeting.

However, should mediation by a third party be the only way to restart the peace efforts, Israel is also prepared to go ahead, but the mediator "must be fair," he added.

Commenting on the latest intermediate, Turkey, which midwifed four rounds of indirect negotiations between the two long-time enemies last year when Ehud Olmert was in power, Netanyahu said that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan "has not strengthened his image as an objective, fair mediator."

Instead, "if France would want to serve as a mediator, we wouldbe willing," added Netanyahu, who met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris last week.

Netanyahu's office said that the two leaders discussed "the ways to speedily relaunch the Middle East peace process."

Also at the cabinet meeting, Defense Minister Ehud Barak stressed that resuming negotiations and reaching a peace accord with Syria is in Israel's vital interests.

On the heels of Netanyahu's visit to Paris, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad also travelled there and held talks with Sarkozy. While stressing that Syria wants peace, he asked Israel to prove its sincerity in renewing peace talks with Syria.

Meanwhile, the Syrian leader hinted that the current stage sees no need for the two parties to enter into direct talks. He added that Turkey is ready to resume its mediatory role and that France and other European countries are also willing to help.

Relations between the Jewish state and Turkey have been noticeably strained since Israel's large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip during last winter. The Turkish government strongly condemned the offensive, which left more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.

Earlier Sunday, Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported that Sarkozy offered last week to host an international summit in Paris to break the deadlock in the Middle East peace process, in which Netanyahu and al-Assad would participate as well as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose peace efforts with Israel has also yielded no tangible results.

The Israeli-Syrian conflict centers on the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau Israel captured from Syria in a 1967 war. Syria has demanded a full Israeli withdrawal, while Israel accused Syria of conspiring with Israel's perceived arch foe Iran and backing anti-Israel militants like the Lebanese Hezbollah movement.