Tel Aviv, July 21, SPA -- Israel and Syria must conduct direct peace talks, without a mediator, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was quoted as saying, in response to Syrian President Bashar Assad who proposed third-party involvement. Assad said earlier this week that Syria would resume peace talks in the presence of an honest broker if Israel first provided a guarantee that it would return the Golan Heights it captured in the 1967 Mideast War, according to a report of the Associated Press. Assad also mentioned that a third country recently offered to serve as a mediator with Israel. He did not identify the country, but Israeli media has speculated he was referring to Turkey. Assad said he would be willing to send someone to the country, but would not hold direct talks with Israelis. During a visit Friday to an Israeli communal farm, Olmert responded to Assad. «I want to make peace with any Arab country, and I want to do it through direct negotiations. That's how it was with Egypt and with Jordan. The Syrian president knows my stance. How can I be sure? Because he said so,» Olmert was quoted as saying by the Israeli news Web site Ynet. «When he (Assad) says Israel needs to withdraw to theJune 4, 1967 lines, that is setting a precondition. I can'tmake any commitments before negotiating,» Olmert was also quoted as saying. Referring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Olmert saidIsrael would not make unilateral moves. «Everything will have to be done alongside negotiations with the Palestinians, to reach an arrangement acceptable to both us and them,» Olmert was quoted as saying.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/469175