SYRIA: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad tells U.S. House Speaker nancy Pelosi he is ready for peace talks with Israel

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, visiting Syria against the wishes of the White House, says President Bashar al-Assad is ready to hold peace talks with Israel. Nancy Pelosi, the most senior U.S. official to visit Syria in more than two years, said President al-Assad told her he was ready to resume peace talks with Israel. "The meeting with the President enabled us to communicate a message from Prime Minister Olmert that Israel was ready to engage in peace talks," Pelosi told reporters at a news conference at Damascus airport after talks with Assad. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said that Syria was ready to resume talks with Israel based on an Arab peace plan calling for Israeli withdrawal from all Arab land for peace adopted at a summit last month. "They said that Mr.Olmert is ready for peace with Syria. We replied that Syria is ready for a just and comprehensive peace according to the Arab initiative," he told reporters. Peace talks between Syria and Israel, centring on normal ties in return for the Golan Heights, collapsed in 2000. Israel has held the Golan Heights since capturing them from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. The White House has called Pelosi's visit a bad idea. President George W. Bush said it sent mixed messages to Syria. Washington accuses Damascus of sponsoring terrorism and estimates up to 90 percent of suicide bombers in Iraq enter from Syria. Damascus says it is trying to stop the flow. Syrian officials says Damascus wants to help Washington achieve an "honourable withdrawal" from Iraq but in return the United States must press Israel to return the Golan Heights. Pelosi has dismissed White House criticism, saying her trip was an opportunity to gather facts and build confidence. Several members of the U.S. Congress have visited Damascus in recent months after the bipartisan Iraq Study Group recommended a stepped-up diplomatic effort involving Syria and Iran to help end the violence in Iraq.

ITN Source | April 4, 2007

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