Israel seeks more talks with Syria

Israel seeks more talks with Syria

Aug 4, 2008-Iranian.ws: Israel has called for more negotiations with Syria after the fourth round of the indirect talks between the two sides ended fruitlessly. Israel's deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz said that Tel Aviv should continue its negotiations with Damascus without preconditions. "We have to negotiate with Syria but without preconditions," Mofaz told a gathering at an American think tank, during a visit to Washington DC for talks with US officials. The fourth round of Israeli-Syrian talks with the mediation of Turkey was focused to decide whether to move to direct talks starting in August, but it failed to put an end to a standoff between the two sides. Israel has called on Syria to enter direct talks over the Syrian Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in 1967, but Syria has so far rejected. Israel and Syria have been conducting Turkey-brokered indirect talks since May after an eight-year freeze in their ties. Syria has long demanded that Israel withdraw fully from the Golan Heights but Israel has refused. On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said if Syria was serious in peace talks it must choose between breaking its relations with Iran and suffering international isolation. The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, however, has rejected the proposal, saying, "Israel's demand would be as if Syria asked Israel to break its relations with the United States."