JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office denied a report that French President Nicolas Sarkozy will deliver a message to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The Israeli prime minister’s message that Israel is willing to withdraw from the Golan Heights as part of a peace deal with Syria could be delivered Thursday when Sarkozy and Assad meet in Paris, Al Arabiya, an Arabic language news channel, reported Thursday.
The Prime Minister’s Office denied the Al Arabiya report.
Netanyahu met with Sarkozy in Paris on Wednesday. He reportedly repeated Israel’s longstanding position that Israel is ready to hold peace talks with Syria without preconditions.
Also on Wednesday, Assad said he would not call for preconditions to negotiate with Israel, but also called for "resistance."
"Resistance is the essence of our policy in the past and in future. We have no conditions to achieve peace but rather rights and we will not abandon them," he said at the opening of the 5thConference of the Arab Parties, Ha’aretz reported.
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