Israel's Yediot Ahronot newspaper on Sunday reported that two U.S. Senators on Friday conveyed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a message from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad suggesting to resume negotiations between the two countries. Netanyahu, however, rejected the offer.
The daily said that Assad said in his message conveyed by the Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman and Republican John McCain, he was interested in the resumption of negotiations and that it "is not linked to Iran."
Netanyahu responded to the message saying that "if Syria's intentions were serious, they will find Israel as a real partner," but he refused to resume the negotiations because of "Syria's pre-conditions".
Netanyahu said that "Assad wants Israel to declare it would give up everything, before the negotiations and this is not acceptable and does not indicate the seriousness." The Israeli leader added, "Syria must make decisions and can not sit on the fence so to cooperate with Iran on the one hand and to transfer weapons to Hizbullah and on the other way says it wants to push the peace process."
