Syrian President to Turkish FM: Israel Not Ready for Peace, Ties to Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas "Not on the Table"

Al-Manar

07/03/2010 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday discussed the prospects of resuming indirect talks between Syria and Israel.

Their talks in Damascus focused on "the principles capable of re-launching the peace process" on the Syrian-Israeli track, which have been frozen for more than a year, Syria's official SANA news agency said.

Davutoglu told Assad that Turkey -- which has brokered indirect talks between Syria and Israel in the past -- was willing "to go forwards to achieve peace," SANA said.

But Assad said Israel was not ready for peace "despite the presence of a Turkish honest-broker who has been working with Syria to establish peace and security in the region," the agency reported.

The Turkish foreign minister has said Ankara is ready to mediate between Israel and Syria provided there is a "political will" on both sides.

The last round of Turkish-mediated indirect peace talks were launched in May 2008 but collapsed at the end of that year when Israel launched a devastating military offensive in Gaza.

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