JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was willing to begin peace talks with Syria.
Netanyahu said he would immediately open talks with Syria, "without preconditions," shortly after arriving in Israel Wednesday following meetings in the United States this week with President Obama and other administration officials.
Netanyahu and Obama discussed Syria during their talks, Netanyahu said at a news conference with Israeli reporters in Washington, though it was not mentioned during the leaders’ joint news conference following their meeting Monday.
Syria has said in the past that it would not sit down to talk with Israel unless Israel first agreed to give up the Golan Heights, which it captured from Syria in 1967.
