Israel and Syria are to resume their indirect peace negotiations and two senior Israeli officials are to leave
for Turkey to conduct the talks, Israel Radio reported Monday.
An Israeli spokesman would not comment on the report, which said that Yoram
Turbovitz, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's bureau chief, and Shalom Turjeman, a
senior aide to the premier, were to depart for Turkey Monday night for a third
round of talks with Syria.
Damascus will also send senior officials to the talks, and the two delegations
will be headquartered in two different hotels in Istanbul, with Turkish
officials shuttling between them.
The current negotiations between the sides began in May, ending an eight-ear
hiatus on peace talks between the two countries. A second round of negotiations
was held in mid-June.
The last concerted Israeli-Syrian attempt to reach a peace deal collapsed in
January 2000, because of a dispute over the future of the Golan Heights, a
strategic plateau overlooking northern Israel and whose return Syria insists on
as a prerequisite for peace, dpa reported.