Clinton ( R) said the conflict then could be resolved in as little as 35 minutes, the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic newspaper reported Sunday.

Optimal conditions require holding the talks behind closed doors, prohibiting interference from Iran and banning the media, YNet News said.

Syria and Israel nearly reached a peace agreement under those conditions in 1998, Clinton noted.

Clinton said talks between the two countries in 2000 in Shepherdstown, W. Va., showed promise and could serve as a basis for new talks.

In those negotiations, the Syrians were more flexible than the Israelis, Clinton wrote in his book, My Life in 2004. In the book Clinton claimed former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to surrender the Golan Heights in exchange for a defense treaty with the United States.

Syria discredits the role of the Syrian - American businessman in peace talks with Israel

Syria distanced itself from comments by a Syrian-American businessman who recently told Israeli lawmakers that President Bashar Assad was ready to make peace with the Jewish state.

Information Minister Mohsen Bilal told state television on Saturday that businessman Ibrahim Suleiman's comments "express his personal point of view, and Syria has nothing to do with this visit or statements."

In an unprecedented appearance before an Israeli parliamentary panel on Thursday, Suleiman, a Syrian-born American, said he had high-level contacts with officials in Damascus.

Suleiman said that Syria had refused to open a front during last summer war between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon. Lebanon was left in ruins as a result of the war and over 1200 Lebanese mainly civilians died. Many reports at the time talked about Hezbollah pressure on Syria to open a front in the Golan heights, to take off some of the pressure , from its Lebanese ally , but Syria, as in the past elected to remain neutral during the conflict.

Sources: UPI