The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, New Delhi

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Thursday ruled out direct talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on the sidelines of an international summit in Paris next month. Assad and Olmert will be in Paris as guests of French President Nicolas Sarkozy who is to announce the launch of a new Mediterranean Union on July 13.

Last month, Syria and Israel had announced they had launched indirect peace talks, with Turkey serving as a mediator, after an eight-year freeze.

"This is not like drinking tea," Assad told reporters in New Delhi when asked about the possibility of direct talks between the two. "The meeting between me and the Israeli prime minister will be meaningless without technocrats, who are the experts, laying the foundation," said Assad who is on a four-day state visit to India. "Only sending signals with no real result is meaningless." His comments follow Israeli President Shimon Peres publicly calling on Syria on Sunday to enter direct talks, citing the example of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, who forged a peace deal with the Jewish state.