JERUSALEM, Oct 12 (AFP) - Israel missed a chance to score strategic gains by passing up on the opportunity of holding peace talks with Syria last year, a leading Israeli think-tank said in a report published Tuesday.
Israel has "either issued unreasonable preconditions for the renewal of negotiations or altogether ignored signs of Syria's willingness to renew such talks," the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies wrote in The Middle East Strategic Balance 2003-2004.
The Tel Aviv University-based think-tank said that Israel's choice had been "unfortunate" because "peace with Syria would likely have considerable positive strategic consequences".
It said it would limit the ability of the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah to fight Israel from Lebanon's southern border and decrease Iran's challenge to Israel.
Hezbollah is backed by both Syria and Iran.
Peace with Syria would also alleviate pressure at a time when the Israeli army is in conflict with the Palestinians, it said.
Israel occupied Syria's Golan Heights after the 1967 Middle East war and went on to annex the fertile and strategic plateau in 1981.
The report also warned against Iran's efforts to develop nuclear weapons but assessed that with world attention rising to that danger, the United States seems "closer to the possible use of force to prevent Iran completing its nuclear program".
However, it said that US difficulties in pacifying Iraq had distracted Washington from its war on terrorism, while Iraq itself had become a "locus of terror".
But the demise of Saddam Hussein's regime had "strengthened Israel's strategic position", the think-tank said.
The report highlighted Israel's "impressive achievements in its war on terrorism", stressing that many Palestinian attacks had been thwarted over the past year and the number of Israeli casualties had decreased accordingly.
"This trend is particularly impressive as it is the opposite of that experienced in other regions -- especially in Iraq where violence is reaching new heights," it said.