SYRIA/ISRAEL: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is willing to resume peace talks with Israel "without conditions", United Nations special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said
"President Assad has reiterated to me today that he has an outstretched hand to his Israeli counterparts and that he is willing to go to the table without conditions," Mr Roed-Larsen said yesterday after meeting Mr Assad in Damascus.
Talks between the two states broke down in 2000, largely over the issue of control over a sliver of Israeli-occupied land along the Sea of Galilee.
It was not clear whether Mr Assad's remarks signalled a change in Syria's position that it wanted to resume the talks where they had broken off.
Syria's official news agency reported the meeting without referring to Mr Assad's offer.
A senior Israeli official said Damascus had to crack down on militants before the Jewish state could take its offer seriously.
Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in September rejected international efforts to revive the talks and said Syria had first to crack down on anti-Israel Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups.
Mr Sharon yesterday cancelled all meetings with visiting British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw because he has lost his voice through illness, officials said. - (Reuters)