Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to meet with Syria’s president “anywhere, anytime on the basis that there are no preconditions,” his spokesman Nir Hefez said on Army Radio today.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that “we should not underestimate the signals of peace coming from Syria.” His remarks were also broadcast on Army Radio today.

Israel’s YNet news site cited the Syrian news agency Sana as quoting Assad as saying that his country “will not stipulate preconditions for peace, but we will not give up on our rights.” Assad is scheduled to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris today.

Israel and Syria held indirect talks that were suspended last year after Israeli forces, aiming to halt rocket attacks, began an assault in the Gaza Strip. Syria has long demanded the return of the Golan Heights, a plateau that Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. The plateau provides access to one of Israel’s major water sources.

“The Israeli side would like to resume negotiations but it is unlikely politically that Netanyahu can even touch the question of withdrawal from the Golan Heights,” said Eyal Zisser, a professor of Middle Eastern history at Tel Aviv University. “There is pressure because nothing is happening on the Palestinian track.”

Netanyahu held talks with Sarkozy yesterday and the two leaders discussed ways to “speedily re-launch the Middle East peace process,” their spokesmen said in a joint statement. Netanyahu left without responding to reporters’ requests to elaborate.

Peace talks with the Palestinian Authority have been stalled since Israel began its three-week military operation in Gaza that ended on Jan. 18. Palestinian leaders have insisted that Israel halt all settlement building in the West Bank as a precondition to resuming the negotiations, a step that Netanyahu has refused.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 12, 2009 04:55 EST