Secret negotiations between Israel and even its most fierce adversaries have been a feature of Middle East diplomacy ever since the Oslo talks in the early 1990s paved the way for the first Israeli-Palestinian agreement.

It has widely been assumed that some form of "track-two" negotiations had been conducted with Syria, as well as Saudi Arabia and even militant groups like Hamas.

The detailed revelation in today’s Haaretz newspaper, if true, is important for several reasons.

First, the two sides involved actually reached an agreement which appeared to overcome the main stumbling block in agreeing a land for deal over the Golan Heights, captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War.

The last attempt to broker an agreement was led by Bill Clinton who met the late President Hafez al-Assad and Ehud Barak, the former Israeli leader, in Geneva in April 2000.

That failed because Israel refused to give up control on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. This time the negotiations appear to have resolved the problem with the creation of a "buffer zone", which would be a park open to Israelis and Syrians alike.
The other notable feature of the agreement is the high level of Syrian involvement.

The reports suggest that Farouk al-Sharaa, the vice president, and Walid Muallem, the Foreign Minister, were directly involved in the talks, which had the blessing of President Bashar al-Assad.

Although the process collapsed during last summer’s war in Lebanon, the timing of yesterday’s leak could be relevant.

America has launched a big push in the Middle East to counter Iran’s influence in the region. One possible tactic would be to engage Damascus, Tehran’s main ally, in the hope of breaking this alliance and undermining militant groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.

Yesterday’s secret deal was denied by both the Syrians and the Israelis, but it may yet form the basis of an agreement in the period to come.

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