Syria and Israel announced almost simultaneously Wednesday that indirect negotiations were taking place through Turkey, the first after talks collapsed eight years ago.
Middle East analysts say what appeared to be a coordinated decision to reveal the mediated talks indicate that the two sides are close to an agreement and are seeking public support.
Despite the Syrian statements that it would not compromise on an inch of the strategic Golan Heights in return for peace, and Israeli statements that Damascus must distance itself from what it calls the "terrorist groups," the Turks insisted that both were happy with the talks.
"Both sides were satisfied that the talks – which went on for three days on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Istanbul – resulted in finding a common ground," Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told reporters Thursday.
He said that the talks, which Turkey says involve separate meetings with the two, will continue periodically on the basis of "peace for land and land for peace."
These negotiations will become face-to-face, added Babacan, "if concrete, satisfactory progress is obtained in this process," promising that Ankara will do its best for the "successful completion of this process…. Both sides place importance on Turkey being involved until the end."
Turkey says its mediation to broker the negotiations began a year ago, but officials may have gone public on the issue after Syria and Israel agreed to the principle of making concessions, analysts say, noting that negotiations in themselves mean there will be concessions.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Wednesday declared that Israel was "ready to make substantial concessions to Syria that will be quite painful," while his defense minister, Ehud Barak, said on Thursday that both sides will be required to make compromises.
"The Syrians know concessions are a two-way street…. Both sides know they will be required to make painful sacrifices and we still have a long way to go," Barak said at an army ceremony in Jerusalem.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem asserted that Israel had pledged to fully withdraw from the Golan plateau, a point which Tel Aviv has refused to confirm or deny.
Since the announcement, Syrian officials have repeatedly said that negotiations meant Syria would retrieve the strategic heights and work for comprehensive peace.
Their statements seem to suggest Syria wants to get back on the peace process after having built its role as the Arab leader of the "rejectionist" front that supports anti-Israeli groups and supposedly opposes the so-called "American-Zionist" hegemony in the region.
Defending renewed negotiations, Syrian talking heads on Arab news channels say Damascus has not changed its policy and has always called for a negotiated comprehensive peace settlement that retrieves occupied Arab territories. They argue that it is the Israelis who have changed their policy.
According to former director-general of Israel's foreign ministry, Alon Liel, who led preparatory negotiations with Syrians close to the leadership, Olmert gave a commitment to withdraw from the Golan.
Liel told the Arabic Al-Jazeera network's Web site that the United States had finally given the Israelis the green light to move forward with negotiations "after President George W. Bush was left with no other option except to go along with the Israeli and Syrian desire."
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice welcomed the negotiations and "any step that might lead to a comprehensive peace in the Middle East."
But her Israeli counterpart, Tzipi Livni, insisted Thursday that Damascus must distance itself from Iran, Lebanon's Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Hamas movement if it wants to make peace with her country.
She said, at the start of a meeting with her French counterpart Bernard Kouchner, that while Israel strives to live in peace with its neighbors, including Syria, "the Syrians have to understand that this means a complete shaking off of support for terror organizations – Hamas and Hezbollah – and its problematic ties with Iran."
The Syrians, however, are publicly saying they are not linking peace talks with Israel to their strategic relationship with Tehran and support for Hezbollah and Hamas.
Syrian commentators say that once the Arabs take back the territories captured in 1967 and strike a peace deal with Israel, there would be no reason for the existence of anti-occupation resistance any way.
But critics have raised questions on whether Damascus has actually given a tacit commitment to abandon its support for Hezbollah and Palestinian factions, considering that Israel has repeatedly said it would not speak to Syria until it disengages itself from them.
Analysts in Lebanon privately speculate that Syria may have been involved in the assassination of Hezbollah's military commander, Imad Mughnieh, who was killed in a car bomb in Damascus in February, to pave the way to getting Israel's commitment to returning the Golan.
These analysts also link the announcement of renewed Syrian-Israeli negotiations to the sudden accord signed in Doha Wednesday, ending an 18-month crisis between the pro-Western Lebanese government and Hezbollah-led opposition.
They suggested the possibility that Hezbollah realized it might stop receiving Syrian support and thus could save its reputation at home by reaching an agreement with the ruling majority.
Meanwhile, Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said that Syrian-Israeli negotiations would not affect its ties with Damascus, because they were "strong and strategic."
But analysts say Hamas may be too optimistic, although it remains to be seen whether Damascus will abandon its leading "rejectionist" role and its armed anti-Israeli allies, and join the ranks of what the United States calls the "moderate" states.