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President Shimon Peres meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier at his official residence in Jerusalem on Monday.
 (AP)
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Last update - 16:58 06/07/2009
Peres: Syria won't get Golan on a 'silver platter'
By DPA
Tags: Palestinians, Israel News 

President Shimon Peres said on Monday that Syrian President Bashar Assad must understand that Israel would not hand over the Golan Heights on a "silver platter" so long as Damascus continued its ties with Iran and Hezbollah.

Peres told visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier that a true peace process between the long time enemies would have to take place at the negotiating table, without preconditions or mediation.

Syrian officials last month threatened to take back the Golan Heights by force if a peace agreement involving the return of the strategic plateau is not reached with Israel.
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A group calling itself the Syrian Committee for the Freedom of the Golan said it would take steps to regain control of the territory, adding that Israel has not shown willingness to achieve peace or to return what they called "Syrian land."

Just prior to that, Assad rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer to resume peace talks between the two countries from "point zero."

Assad said the negotiations should resume from the point at which they stopped under former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, when the two sides had planned to formulate mutual commitments that would enable the talks to move to a direct negotiations stage.

Germany to push Arabs to join Mideast peace process

Steinmeier began talks with Israeli leaders on Monday morning as part of a 40-hour trip to Jerusalem, Damascus and Beirut.

Steinmeier landed in Tel Aviv before dawn and opened his talks by meeting Peres at his Jerusalem residence. He was scheduled next to tour the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, before meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and opposition leader Tzipi Livni later in the day.

A planned stopover in the West Bank city of Ramallah, which was to
include an inaugural ceremony for some new, German-funded classrooms,
was cancelled due to an unannounced, last-minute visit by Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas to Jordan, a spokeswoman at the German
representation in Ramallah confirmed.

A key aspect of the discussions with the Israeli government is expected to be U.S. and European Union calls for a halt to settlement construction in the West Bank.

German officials said Steinmeier also hopes to persuade neighboring Arab states to take a more active role in diplomatic efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The visit is Steinmeier's 14th since taking office in 2005.

He is scheduled to meet Tuesday with President Bashar Assad in Syria and in Lebanon with prime minister-designate Saad Hariri, son of former premier Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a bomb blast in 2005.

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      1.   Well it would help if 11:11  |  Chris Linthwaite 06/07/09
      2.   Peres you are wrong this time.... 11:31  |  Joe 06/07/09
      3.   The Golan ? a strategic asset for Israel. 11:38  |  Lane 06/07/09
      4.   Germany 11:41  |  Iletzter 06/07/09
      5.   # 2 Peres is -always- right, because ... 12:39  |  Tom Lobo Meyer 06/07/09
      6.   Simon Peres 13:43  |  Mossad Peinlich 06/07/09
      7.   Not a diplomat 13:49  |  J. Frank Mortimer 06/07/09
      8.   i think israel should keep golan forever 14:20  |  khaled 06/07/09
      9.   Linthwaite and changing goalposts 14:46  |  Arie 06/07/09
      10.   Syria won`t get Golan 15:30  |  Ralph 06/07/09
      11.   Syria Will Not Cut its Ties to Iran and 15:34  |  ARTH 06/07/09
      12.   "rightfully theirs" 15:35  |  Ol` Case 06/07/09
      13.   Israel`s Nature. 15:44  |  Cool B 06/07/09
      14.   No land taken since 1967 16:03  |  Arnold 06/07/09
      15.   True, true #8 16:14  |  Richard 06/07/09
      16.   It Won`t Happen! 16:14  |  Bill Foonman 06/07/09
      17.   # 4 lletzter 16:40  |  Axel 06/07/09
      18.   Since when... 16:46  |  Michael 06/07/09
      19.   Syria lost the Golan in a war started by, um, er, SYRIA. 17:00  |  Mark 06/07/09
      20.   # 12 ol case 17:09  |  Axel 06/07/09
      21.   golan height 17:47  |  aijaznisar 06/07/09
      22.   UN Resolution 497 18:02  |  Ol` Case 06/07/09
      23.   Syrian peace 18:08  |  oz 06/07/09
      24.   Almost like Assad has schizophrenia 18:51  |  Shepherd 06/07/09
      25.   #4 lletzter, fiction beats reality? 19:06  |  Mark B. 06/07/09
      26.   #20 Axel 19:11  |  Freddy 06/07/09
      27.   #19 Mark in NY 19:12  |  Mark B. 06/07/09
      28.   Freddy would-be-lawyer #21 19:54  |  lawprof 06/07/09
      29.   #19 Mark 21:23  |  Cool B 06/07/09
      30.   Golan Heights 21:32  |  Harold 06/07/09
      31.   Give back the stolen goods, or remain a land of thieves 22:26  |  John 06/07/09
      32.   golan 01:03  |  me again 07/07/09
      33.   "Cool B" and concepts 06:28  |  Arie 07/07/09
      34.   #33 Arie 21:04  |  Cool B 07/07/09
      35.   #3 Hmmm, interesting argument, Arie 15:23  |  Johnboy 08/07/09
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