Barak: Israel must reach settlement with Syria

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday that it was of "crucial strategic interest" for Israel to reach a settlement on relations with Syria.

"It is in Israel's interest to reach a deal on ties with Syria, to protect our crucial interests, security and otherwise," Barak told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. "This will require negotiations. The possibility of such negotiations must be on Israel's agenda."

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said earlier Sunday that he was willing to negotiate peace with Syria, but only if talks were held without preconditions.

Syria recently said it would resume indirect peace talks with the new Israeli government as long as they focused on a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights. Israel captured the strategic plateau from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.

"I'd be glad to negotiate with Syria this evening, but without preconditions," Lieberman told Israel Radio on Sunday morning.

Previous talks have broken down over the extent of an Israeli withdrawal. Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lieberman have said they would not be willing to cede the territory Syria wants.

In the Israel Radio interview, Lieberman added: "Hey say, first go back to '67 lines and give up the Golan. If we agree to that, what is there to negotiate?"

Lieberman's comments Sunday came after he expressed doubt about talks with Syria during an interview with the Austrian daily Kleine Zeitung published this weekend.

"We must recognize the reality - to date Syria has hosted the leadership of Hamas and Islamic Jihad," he told the paper. "It supports Hezbollah and its arms smuggling into southern Lebanon. It supports Iran's nuclear program, and I see that it is only tightening its links with Tehran. For this reason I cannot see Syria as a genuine partner to any sort of agreement."

Barak, meanwhile, was quoted by Israel Radio as saying Saturday that Israel should strive toward renewing indirect peace talks with Syria. He reportedly told closed Defense Ministry meetings that the negotiations would distance Syria from the "Axis of Evil."

Lieberman said in the Kleine Zeitung interview that before negotiations, the Syrians "must cease their support for terrorism and close the centers of the terrorist organizations. Only then will be able to begin discussing our future ties."

Lieberman added that the "diplomatic process is not the most important thing for achieving a viable peace. First we need to achieve a number of things for both peoples, otherwise the diplomatic process will fail. The most important thing for us is security, because we do not want to live with terrorism and rockets on a daily basis. The most important thing for the Palestinians is the economic situation ... Beyond this, stability is needed."

The foreign minister further said he rejects the formula of land for peace. "To date this idea did not have real results. What was the result of [Israel's] withdrawals? Hezbollah and missiles. This idea does not work."

	Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman