Syria reiterated it wants peace with Israel. “Our position is the same. We are ready to resume peace negotiations, we would like to take action for peace,” an unnamed, high-level Syrian official told AFP on Thursday. The remarks, which were widely picked up in Israel, came a day after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said his country does not want to go to war with Syria, despite a recent military build-up by Damascus. “We re closely following the statements,” the Syrian official said, who also voiced dismay at Olmert’s unchanged position that any new talks should be without preconditions. “We don t have much hope of things changing.” Jerusalem has long insisted that Damascus abandon its a priori demand for an immediate and complete return of the Golan Heights, which Israeli forces captured in the Six Day War.
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