Jerusalem - Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday he was willing to hold peace talks with Syria, but without any prior conditions, such as a guaranteed Israeli return of the occupied Golan Heights. "I'd be happy to hold negotiations with Syria even tonight, but without preconditions, without an ultimatum," he said.

Tel Aviv, Apr. 23 : Israel considers Pakistan as its biggest strategic threat rather than Iran.

Expressing concern over the increasing Taliban threat in Pakistan, Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq were the three countries from which Israel faces an immediate threat.

"Pakistan is nuclear and unstable and Afghanistan is faced with a potential Taliban takeover, and the combination forms a contiguous area of radicalism ruled in the spirit of Osama bin Laden," The Daily Times quoted Lieberman, as saying.

Jerusalem  - New Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, has appointed an Israeli-Arab Bedouin as his political advisor for the Middle East, the Israeli Yediot Ahranot daily reported Sunday.

Ismail Khalidi, currently Israel's deputy consul-general in San Francisco, will take up his new position in the coming weeks. He is the first Bedouin to serve in the Israeli diplomatic corps.

Cairo  - Egyptian politicians on Thursday unleashed a volley of criticism against newly appointed Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman for his statements on Egypt and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

In an official statement sent to reporters earlier on Thursday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry called Lieberman's rejection of the Annapolis peace process on Wednesday "the first setback for efforts toward peace" under the new Israeli government.

Tel Aviv  - Israeli police grilled new Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman for seven hours Thursday, as part on a years-long investigation centering around allegations of fraud, money-laundering, bribery and breech of trust, police said.

A further round of questioning is scheduled to take place at a later date. Lieberman took over the foreign minister portfolio Wednesday, and Thursday's interrogation had been scheduled days in advance.

Cairo - The Egyptian Foreign Ministry on Thursday called the new Israeli foreign minister's rejection of the Annapolis process "the first setback for efforts toward peace" under the new Israeli government.

Addressing Israeli diplomats for the first time as foreign minister on Wednesday, Avigdor Lieberman said the Annapolis process had "no validity whatsoever."