Syria rejects Israel talks

[bemildred]

Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, has said he is not willing to hold face-to-face talks with the Israeli leader, after a meeting in France aimed at restarting the Middle East peace process.

His comments come after meeting Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, who conveyed a willingness by Israel's prime minister to begin peace talks with the Syrians.

Al-Assad said: "If Mr Netanyahu is serious, he can send a team of experts, and we'll send a team of experts to Turkey. Then we can really talk, if they're interested."

The meeting between al-Assad and Sarkozy in Paris on Friday comes a week after Netanyahu met the French leader.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/11/20091113145246388303.html

[aranthus]

1. The original headline is somewhat inaccurate.

If you read the article, what Assad rejected was a face to face meeting with Netanyahu. He didn't reject negotiations with Israel, just a face to face with the Israeli Prime Minister. That suggests that he didn't want to give Netanyahu a photo op and propaganda points, while at the same time, leaving open other avenues of negotiation. It also shows how the press spins things, leading with a headline of blanket rejection.