MIDDLE EAST:A SENIOR Israeli cabinet minister revealed yesterday that efforts were being made to re-engage Syria in peace negotiations, just 48 hours after prime minister Ehud Olmert made comments that were interpreted by some as evidence of possible secret contacts between Jerusalem and Damascus.
"Israel is making every effort to get Syria back to the negotiating table," infrastructure minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told Israel Radio.
He said Israel knew "exactly what the price would be" for a comprehensive peace deal with Syria - a reference to Syria's long-time insistence that any agreement with Israel depends on the return of the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau captured by Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Mr Ben-Eliezer would not be drawn on whether the efforts at renewing talks with Syria had been fruitful, but he did confirm that defence minister and Labour Party leader Ehud Barak was fully aware of the attempts to woo Damascus.
The last time the two sides met around the negotiating table was in 2000, when Mr Barak was prime minister, but the talks broke down over Israel's refusal to accede to Syria's demand that it withdraw right up to the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
Mr Olmert sparked speculation over secret talks when he told journalists on Wednesday that while he supported face-to-face negotiations with Syria, the contacts did not necessarily have to be conducted in the full glare of the media spotlight. "That doesn't mean that when we sit together you have to see us," he told reporters.
Over the last two years, both Syria and Israel have expressed willingness to renew talks, but there has been no tangible progress. Israeli leaders have often dismissed overtures by Bashar Assad as an effort by the Syrian president to alleviate US pressure on his regime. But Mr Olmert has also been reluctant to engage Damascus in the face of strong opposition from the Bush administration to any contacts with Syria.
Mr Olmert recently repeated his conditions for renewed talks when he told a joint meeting of his cabinet and a delegation of German ministers that Damascus must stop aiding Hizbullah in southern Lebanon and Palestinian militants in Gaza and the West Bank.
Talk of negotiations with Syria comes as renewed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians are faltering. In the past, Israeli leaders have often flirted with the Syrian track when prospects on the Palestinian track have waned.