AL QUDS, Jan 12: Israel's president on Monday invited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to visit Al Quds for negotiations with Israeli leaders, but Damascus rejected the offer as "not serious".

"I invite the president of Syria to come to Al Quds and meet the heads of the state and hold serious negotiations," President Moshe Katsav said on Israel Radio.

Although Katsav has largely ceremonial powers, his appeal added to pressure within Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government for the right-wing leader to respond favourably to Assad's recent call to resume peace talks broken off in 2000.-Reuters