SOUTHERN SHUNEH, Jordan - Israel's president urged Syria Sunday to open direct peace talks and said indirect negotiations mediated by Turkey had not resumed.
President Shimon Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize winner whose office is largely ceremonial, told reporters in Jordan any Syrian gesture would help clear the air between the two arch enemies.
He said some had suggested Syrian President Bashar Assad and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet and start talking directly.
"The Syrians should be ready to talk. If President Assad wants peace, why is he shy?" Peres said after participating in an international economic meeting sponsored by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum. "We suggested many times direct talks," he added. "He thinks direct talks is 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 war in Gaza in December and January. Peres said the Syrians have been trying to get the United States involved as an intermediary in the indirect talks.
He said he did not believe the indirect contacts 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.
Syria is demanding that Israel agree to return the entire Golan Heights, territory captured in the 1967 Mideast war, in any peace deal. Assad said last week he did not think the new hard-line Israeli government was a good partner for the peace talks.
Just a few days ago, Netanyahu said he would not return the Golan.
Peres said a gesture by Syria would be more important than all the negotiations.
"Change the air," he said. "There stands the president and he said he doesn't want to meet. Why? You want us to give back something, but he doesn't suggest to give us back anything," Peres said.
Earlier Peres met with Jordan's King Abdullah II for 30 minutes behind closed doors. A royal palace statement said Abdullah urged Peres to assist in efforts to have Netanyahu's government "quickly launch negotiations to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on a two-state solution."
