Syria has rejected the latest appeals from Israel to attend the US-sponsored Annapolis peace conference and will only go if the return of the Golan Heights is on the agenda, the country's deputy leader said in London on Tuesday.
Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Dardari said Syria will not budge in its insistence that its participation in the conference in Annapolis, Maryland, hinges on the opportunity to discuss the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday they wanted Syria to participate in the conference, but only on condition they set aside Syrian-Israeli issues.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday urged Syria to attend, saying the meeting could be a launching pad for new talks between the two foes.
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