Assad says Netanyahu not ready for peace

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said Friday that he had no "Israeli partner" ready to push forward the Middle East peace process, rebuffing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer of talks.

Accusing Netanyahu of not being serious about peace, Assad told reporters he was not willing to hold face-to-face negotiations with the Israeli leader and called instead for lower-level dialogue under Turkish mediation.

"If Mr Netanyahu is serious, he can send a team of experts, and we'll send a team of experts to Turkey. Then we can really talk, if they're interested," he said in Paris, after talks with France's President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Netanyahu visited Sarkozy on Wednesday, after which an Israeli official said the premier was "willing to meet the Syrian President at anytime and anywhere to move on the peace negotiations on the basis of no pre-conditions."

Syria, however, has long had one main pre-condition for talks with Israel -- the return of the strategic Golan Heights, a plateau which Israeli captured in the countries' 1967 war and unilaterally annexed in 1981.

"Today, Syria wants peace. There is a mediator, Turkey, which is ready to resume its mediation. There is also French and European support for this process," Assad told reporters at Sarkozy's Elysee Palace.

"What we lack is an Israeli partner who is ready to go forward and ready to come to a result," he declared.

A letter from Netanyahu

Assad's visit comes at the heels of talks between Sarkozy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu asked Sarkozy to pass a letter to Syria calling for the resumption of peace negotiations between the two countries, Al Arabiya TV reported citing a French source.

Relations between France and Syria have been warming since Assad paid a landmark visit to Paris last year for Bastille Day celebrations and Sarkozy visited Damascus two months later in Sept. 2008.

But the Syrian leader said that "we haven't yet reached a revival of trust between Syria and the United States," and called on Obama to do more for the stalled Middle East peace process.

"What President Obama said about peace was a good thing. We agree with him on the principles, but... what is the plan of action? The (peace process) sponsor must come up with a plan of action," he said.

Assad also repeated his position that Damascus must review a partnership agreement with the European Union, which had been due to be signed in October, calling on the bloc to have "more political independence."

"The Europeans have turned completely towards the United States, to Syria's detriment. A partner must be a friend and we haven't noticed that from Europe these last years," he said.

Damascus and the EU first drew up the draft partnership pact in 2004 but it was never signed by European countries, amid concerns by some nations of rights abuse in Syria.

(With Agencies)

What President Obama said about peace was a good thing. We agree with him on the principles, but... what is the plan of action

Syrian President Bashar al-Asad