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Last update - 10:58 13/05/2009
'Syria willing to resume talks as soon as Israel is ready'
By Haaretz Service
Tags: Syria, Golan Heights, Turkey 

Damascus is prepared to resume indirect peace negotiations with Israel and is waiting for the latter to take initiative, Syria's newly appointed ambassador to Turkey said on Tuesday.

On his first official visit to Turkey, Nadil Kabalan thanked Ankara for its "decent role" in mediating the negotiations, and urged continued participation.

"The ball is in Israel's court right now. Whenever Israel thinks it is ready, then we are ready to talk," Nadil Kabalan told the state-run Anatolian Agency.
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Kabalan added that Syria was committed to following "peace as a strategic option," as long as Israel vowed to return land it has occupied in war.

"We have chosen peace as a strategic option and we are determined to go down that road so long as the territories under occupation are returned to their owners," the envoy said.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said in March that a clear position by the United States on Israel-Syria peace negotiations was essential to progress in the talks.

We don't expect much, at least in the foreseeable future, within this framework," Assad said. "Especially since [U.S. President Barack Obama] has announced clear positions on Iraq and Afghanistan, but we haven't heard an American position yet on the peace process."

The Syrian leader also reiterated his assertion that Damascus would engage in peace talks with any Israeli government, whatever its political orientation.

Syria has conditioned peace talks on Israel as long as they focused on a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.

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  • TIMELINE: A chronology of Israel-Syria relations since 1947
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      1.   Syrian panhandler dictating terms 11:34  |  *BEN JABO 13/05/09
      2.   talking is no problem but we are not giving out presents 11:42  |  samuel the seer 13/05/09
      3.   no more" 12:10  |  dave 13/05/09
      4.   what does it means? 12:58  |  dave 13/05/09
      5.   Give back what it doesnt belong to you - not unreasonable 13:05  |  Zed 13/05/09
      6.   let`s talk after 10 years of no Terror and no War 13:07  |  10 years quiet 13/05/09
      7.   5.Zed dont syrians want peace 14:07  |  dave 13/05/09
      8.   Syria:"Negotiations without preconditions" 15:14  |  Arie 13/05/09
      9.   #3 Pardon me, dave...... 15:39  |  Johnboy 13/05/09
      10.   #1 Ahem, BEN JABO 15:48  |  Johnboy 13/05/09
      11.   9 John boy 15:55  |  dave 13/05/09
      12.   #2 That`s a bad case of hubris you`ve got there, samuel. 16:00  |  Johnboy 13/05/09
      13.   even wikipedia says as i said look =6day war johnny 16:04  |  dave 13/05/09
      14.   #10 Yeah, sure, sure, dave 16:19  |  Johnboy 13/05/09
      15.   14 16:53  |  dave 13/05/09
      16.   #5 brummie at the end of the alphabet with more idiot slogans 16:58  |  v hardman 13/05/09
      17.   In our hands now and forever! 17:16  |  daniel yefet 13/05/09
      18.   I don`t think so 03:16  |  Erin Tas 14/05/09
      19.   With bibi as PM,Israel better not ever be ready for talks with 05:56  |  glenna 14/05/09
      20.   Syria 06:06  |  ks 14/05/09
      21.   johnboy, Syria does not have any rights 07:25  |  charro 14/05/09
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