Syria's President Hafez Assad feels he has missed opportunities to make peace with Israel in the past and is determined not to let this chance slip away.
That was the message which Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, and his Foreign Minister, Mr David Levy, delivered to their One Israel party colleagues at a meeting last night.
This message was based on the latest European mediation efforts between Israel and Syria by the Spanish Prime Minister, Mr Jose Maria Aznar.
"Assad is apparently convinced of Israel's intentions for peace and it seems he is determined not to waste the opportunity," Mr Levy told Israeli army radio. Mr Aznar met Mr Assad in Damascus earlier this week, and then came to Israel to brief Mr Barak and Mr Levy.
In remarks to reporters, the Spanish Prime Minister was relatively coy, only saying he had got "a positive impression" from the Syrian leadership. However, evidently he was considerably more optimistic in his private talks with the Israeli leaders.
Mr Barak's aides now say they are waiting for the arrival of US mediation - the US Secretary of State Ms Madeleine Albright next month - to finalise the details of a resumption of Israeli-Syrian peace talks, stalled for more than three years.
The Syrians are still demanding that the talks resume at the point where they broke off - critically, Damascus claims Israel has committed itself to withdrawing from the entire Golan Heights. Israel is unwilling to acknowledge any such commitment.
Nevertheless, Mr Barak's top adviser, Mr Danny Yatom, said yesterday he did not believe this disagreement would prevent a revival of the peace effort.
Mr Barak's aides say the Prime Minister would love to set the talks rolling with an unprecedented face-to-face summit meeting between himself and Mr Assad. The Syrian leader, however, is unlikely to agree. Previous rounds of negotiations have been at ambassadorial level or between respective army chiefs-of-staff.
Conscious of the Palestinian fear of being left behind amid the progress on the Syrian front, Mr Barak has scheduled a meeting with the Palestinian Authority president, Mr Yasser Arafat, for tomorrow night.
Israeli sources believe Mr Barak may offer to release Palestinian security prisoners. He may also pledge to quickly implement the next phase of the Wye peace deal - involving an Israeli withdrawal from another 5 per cent of the occupied West Bank - while seeking to combine a further pullout mandated under that accord with accelerated progress towards a permanent peace agreement.
AFP adds: A remote-controlled bomb exploded in the path of a bus carrying Israeli soldiers on a road near the border with Lebanon yesterday. No one was injured, military sources said.