Netanyahu says Israel ready for talks with Syria

By Jeffrey Heller

BEN-GURION AIRPORT, Israel (Reuters) - Israel is ready to open peace talks with Syria immediately and without preconditions, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday after talks with U.S. President Barack Obama.

The offer followed Obama's first White House meeting with the Israeli leader, who said he agreed on the need to widen the peace process across the Arab world but stopped short of embracing the declared U.S. goal of Israel accepting there should be a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"There was agreement that we must immediately launch peace talks," Netanyahu told reporters at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion Airport after returning from talks in Washington.

"I said I was ready to immediately open peace talks with the Palestinians, by the way, with the Syrians as well, of course, without preconditions," Netanyahu added.

"But I made it clear that any peace settlement must find a solution to Israel's security needs."

Netanyahu, whose right-leaning coalition took office nearly two months ago, had appeared cool to the idea of restarting peace talks with Syria, launched a year ago by his centrist predecessor Ehud Olmert under Turkish mediation.

Despite his pledge not to set preconditions, Netanyahu has in the past expressed opposition to Israel's withdrawal from the Golan Heights, which it captured in 1967 and which Syria wants returned as part of a peace deal.

Olmert's Turkish-mediated talks with Syria stalled late last year. Last week, Turkish President Abdullah Gul urged Netanyahu to resume the negotiations and said Ankara was ready to continue as a mediator.