Al-Qods, 2008 May 27, Press TV
 
Israel's national infrastructure minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer says any peace deal between Israel and Syria would isolate Iran.

"Peace with Syria would break up the current strategic situation because it would isolate Iran and silence Hezbollah," said Ben-Eliezer on Tuesday.

"We are talking about a true peace, an end to hostilities, an opening of the borders, and Israel is ready to pay the price for such a peace and coexistence with Syria," he told public radio.

The Israeli regime and Syria launched indirect peace negotiations, with Turkey acting as a go-between on May 21.

The Syrians want the return of all of the Golan Heights which the Israeli regime seized in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981-- a move never recognized by the international community.

Earlier, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that his country would not sever ties with Iran and Hezbollah, despite Israel's demands to do so. Al-Assad said it would be as if Syria asked Israel to break its relations with the United States.