Israel calls on Syria to join direct peace talks

Israeli President Shimon Peres said some had suggested Syrian President Bashar Assad and Netanyahu meet and start talking directly. ?The Syrians should be ready to talk. If President Assad wants peace, why is he shy?? he said after participating in an international economic meeting sponsored by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum. ?We suggested many times direct talks,? Peres added. ?He thinks direct talks are a prize to Israel. It?s not a prize. It?s normal.? Israel and Syria conducted indirect peace negotiations through Turkish mediators last year. But Syria suspended them over Israel?s Gaza war in December and January. Peres said the Syrians have been trying to get the United States involved as an intermediary in the indirect talks but he did not believe the contact through Turkey had resumed. ?Right now, I don?t think there?s anything happening,? he said, pointing to Israel?s preoccupation with elections that brought right-wing Likud leader Netanyahu to office in March. In another development, a report said that the Israeli Parliament members were divided over the visit of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington and his stance on the two-state solution; Kazinform cites the Arab News. See www.arabnews.com for full version