Israel and Syria have opened indirect peace talks through the mediation of Turkey, officials in Jerusalem and Damascus said in almost simultaneous statements yesterday.

Israel denied a statement by the Syrian Foreign Minister, however, that it had agreed to leave the disputed Golan Heights in advance of negotiations.

“We are ready to make substantial concessions to Syria that will be quite painful,” said Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister. “After a freeze of eight years Israel and Syria are talking peace again instead of shooting at each other. It will not be easy, and we have no illusions. I am convinced that the possibility of success is greater than the risk,” he said, adding that Turkey helped to make the first contact more than a year ago.

Talks between the two sides, who have fought three wars, last broke down in 2000.

Since then Israel has accused Syria of supplying Hezbollah with the rockets that hit the Jewish state during the 2006 Lebanon war and Syria rebuked Israel for bombing a secret facility last year that the US says could have been an embryonic nuclear reactor.

Israeli and Syrian delegations were in Istanbul to talk about reopening negotiations, Turkish television said, adding that they were not yet meeting directly.

Walid al-Moualem, the Syrian Foreign Minister, said that the contact could lead to direct talks. “We hope the Israeli side would be serious about them [the indirect talks] so that both sides would be able to hold direct negotiations,” he said.

Ban Ki Moon, the UN SecretaryGeneral, was quick to praise the peace initiative. “The Secretary-General welcomes today's announcement confirming that Syria and Israel have started indirect peace talks, under the auspices of Turkey, aimed at a comprehensive peace in accordance with the Madrid Conference terms of reference for peace,” his office said in a statement.

Syria's price for peace with Israel is a return of the Golan Heights, a strategically important mountain range overlooking the Sea of Galilee, which is the principal source of fresh water for Israel.

Recent polls suggest that most Israelis do not support returning the area, captured in the 1967 Six Day War, to Syria in return for an intangible promise of peace.

There are also 18,000 Israelis who have settled there, a committee of whom accused Mr Olmert yesterday of putting the State of Israel's survival at risk. “The people of Israel will not support such a deluded and irresponsible move,” it said.

The talks mark an important development because Syria is closely allied to Iran, whose President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has called for the destruction of the Jewish state. Opening talks — even indirect ones — with Israel could drive a wedge between the allies.

Israeli military officers insisted in the past that if the Golan Heights were returned they would have to be under strict international supervision.

Some observers have suggested that the handover could be staggered to ensure Syria honoured treaty commitments.

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