UNITED NATIONS -- A U.N. spokesman says Syria is willing to resume negotiations with Israel on relative U.N. Security Council resolutions and land for peace.
Spokesman Fred Eckhard Wednesday said Terje Roed Larsen, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Middle East envoy, met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus for about 90 minutes. Larsen described ther talks as "warm creative and constructive."
"He (Larsen) said that the Syrian president had an 'outstretched hand to Israel' and that he's willing to 'go to the negotiating table based on relative Security Council resolutions and the principle of land for peace without conditions,'" Eckhard said.
After his meeting with the president, Larsen attended a luncheon in his honor hosted by Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara, which was also was attended by other senior Syrian officials, the spokesman said.
U.N. officials, while pointing out this "was not a dramatic change ... not a new development," noted the length of the meeting meant there was "a clear discussion of issues" between the president and the envoy and regarded it as a positive move to resume talks that broke down in 2000.
