Indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria are scheduled to resume this week in Turkey, Israeli officials told Reuters on Monday as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman declined to give a specific date.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israel favoured moving to direct talks but it was unclear when that would happen.
"We expect the Israeli team to be in Turkey shortly," Mark Regev, Olmert's spokesman, was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Regev declined to give a specific date, but senior Israeli officials said the talks were scheduled to resume this week.
Regev also declined to comment on any timeline for starting direct talks between the Israeli and Syrian delegations, but he said: "When talks move to direct talks, that would be a sign of significant progress."
Israel and Syria announced last month a resumption of peace talks under Turkey's auspices after an eight-year break, as a result of a process that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said began in February 2007.
The last round of peace talks broke down in 2000 over the fate of the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed in 1981 in a move not recognized by the international community. Those talks were hosted by the United States