Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel would be prepared to hold immediate peace negotiations with Syria, as long as the talks were held without preconditions, HaAretz reported.
Netanyahu made the remarks in response to a question from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, with whom he met for more than an hour and a half in Paris on Wednesday. Their talks focused on reviving Middle East peace efforts and Iran's contenious nuclear program.
After the meeting, the two shook hands but did not speak to reporters. In a joint statement, they said they agreed to deploy all efforts toward immediately reviving the peace process. No agreement was reached on the issue of freezing construction in West Bank settlements, however, a demand which has topped the agenda for Palestinians and the United States.
Their statement also said that they discussed international efforts to stop Iran's nuclear program in light of latest evolutions, referring to Iran's apparent rejection of an international proposal to send Iranian uranium abroad for enrichment.
Their meeting took place just days after Netanyahu met with President Barack Obama in Washington for unusually low-profile talks.
Netanyahu's declaration regarding Syria came hours after Syrian President Bashar Assad said he would not set any preconditions for peace negotiations with Israel.
"Resistance is the essence of our policy in the past and in future. We have no conditions to achieve peace but rather rights and we will not abandon them," Assad said in a speech opening the 5th Conference of the Arab Parties titled "The Independent Arab Decision."
Two days after Netanyahu's visit, Assad will also be in Paris for talks with Sarkozy. French officials have said the two meetings are not linked, seeking to kill off any speculation that France might try to act as middleman between the two nations.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Tuesday ahead of Netanyahu's visit that France fears that Israel no longer desires a Middle East peace deal. He also said that Paris remained deeply opposed to settlement building in the West Bank.
Speaking on France Inter radio, Kouchner made clear he was not expecting any swift break through in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
"What really hurts me, and this shocks us, is that before there used to be a great peace movement in Israel. There was a left that made itself heard and a real desire for peace," Kouchner said.
"It seems to me, and I hope that I am completely wrong, that this desire has completely vanished, as though people no longer believe in it," he added.
When Sarkozy took office in 2007 he worked hard to improve sometimes frosty French relations with Israel, believing Paris would never be a credible partner in Middle East peace talks if it was seen as biased in favour of the Arab world.
Underlining their sometimes problematic ties, Kouchner belatedly canceled a trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories last month. No official reason was given, but one French diplomat said Israel was making access to Gaza difficult.
Kouchner confirmed on Tuesday that he would now visit the region "in the coming days" and said he would use the trip to try to persuade Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to run for re-election in a ballot slated for January. Sarkozy called Abbas on Tuesday with the same request.
Abbas announced last week he would not seek a new mandate. France fears the younger generation of Palestinian politicians will be less committed to seeking a peace accord.
"We must revisit this with Mahmoud Abbas," Kouchner said.
