Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

French President Nicolas Sarkozy tried to breathe life into the Middle East peace process Friday, hosting his Syrian counterpart just two days after talks with the Israeli prime minister. President Bashar al-Assad arrived at the Elysee Palace in Paris boasting of a new "climate of trust" in relations with France, but without having directly responded to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer of new talks. Relations between France and Syria have been warming since Assad paid a landmark visit to Paris last year for Bastille Day celebrations and Sarkozy visited Damascus two months later in September 2008. Sarkozy hopes to use France's ties with ... Read Full Story

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said Friday that he had no "Israeli partner" ready to push forward the Middle East peace process, rebuffing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer of talks. Accusing Netanyahu of not being serious about peace, Assad told reporters he was not willing to hold face-to-face negotiations with the Israeli leader and called instead for lower-level dialogue under Turkish mediation. "If Mr Netanyahu is serious, he can send a team of experts, and we'll send a team of experts to Turkey. Then we can really talk, if they're interested," he said in Paris, after talks with France's President Nicolas Sarkozy. Netanyahu visited Sarkozy ... Read Full Story

The French president says his country is ready to mediate between Syria and Israel and warns that extremists could benefit from a continued deadlock in the Mideast peace process. Nicolas Sarkozy says he has conveyed his offer to "facilitate talks" to Syrian President Bashar Assad and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel and Syria had indirect peace talks last year through Turkish mediators. But they broke off over the Gaza war that ended in January. Sarkozy was speaking in an interview with Saudi Arabian daily Al-Riyadh published on Tuesday. The French leader is expected to begin a two-day visit to Saudi on Tuesday evening ... Read Full Story

PARIS (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that U.S. President Barack Obama should come up with a firm plan of action to renew peace talks between Syria and Israel. In an interview with French daily Le Figaro published on Friday, Assad said the dialogue initiated by Obama's administration had not gone "beyond an exchange of views." "There has not been an executive plan," he said. Assad is due to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday, hot on the heels of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was in Paris earlier this week. While Netanyahu said he was ready to start peace negotiations ... Read Full Story

Syrian President Bashar Assad on Friday questioned Israel's will to restart peace talks and suggested that a summit meeting between the two sides would be useless. He welcomed renewed indirect discussions mediated by Turkey, but appeared to dismiss suggestions of a direct meeting with Israel's prime minister. "What would we talk about, the menu or the return of land?" Assad told reporters after talks and lunch with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "Me, I say we would talk about returning land, and for this subject there is a framework," mechanisms and specialized negotiators to handle this, he said. "It is neither me nor Mr. (Benjamin) ... Read Full Story