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Israel rejects Syria preconditions for peace talks
26 Apr 2009 07:28:01 GMT
 Source: Reuters
JERUSALEM, April 26 (Reuters) - Israel's new government would talk peace with Syria if it dropped preconditions such as an Israeli commitment to return the Golan Heights, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Sunday.

"I would be happy to hold negotiations with Syria this very evening, but without preconditions and without ultimatums," Lieberman told Israel Radio. Lieberman, an ultranationalist coalition partner to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the less than month-old government was still formulating foreign policy but made clear he saw Syria's bedrock demand for the Golan as up for debate.

This is not the view from Damascus, which says Israel, which annexed the Golan in a move not recognised abroad, is legally required to return it along with other occupied Arab land. "Each of the sides has a position. Syria may want sovereignty on the Golan Heights, while we ask for a 200-year lease on the Golan Heights," Lieberman said.

"They can demand the Golan Heights in exchange for peace, while we will demand peace for peace," he added, criticising Syria for "setting an ultimatum" by hinting, on occasion, that it could resort to force to retake the strategic plateau. Netanyahu's centrist predecessor, Ehud Olmert, held indirect talks with Syria. Olmert had his own precondition for fuller engagement with Syria -- that it distance itself from Iran, and Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas guerrillas.

Keen to find a diplomatic breakthrough in the Middle East and perhaps wary of a deadlocked Palestinian track, the Obama administration has spoken encouragingly about the prospect of Israeli-Syrian rapprochement.

Netanyahu is due to discuss strategy with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington next month. (Writing by Dan Williams, Editing by Richard Williams)


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