Israel seeks diplomatic ties with longtime enemies Syria and Lebanon, but will not discuss ceding the Golan Heights in any peace deal, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Monday.
Israeli leaders argue that with its rival Iran weakened by this month's 12-day war, other countries in the region have an opportunity to forge ties with Israel.
Relations in the region were thrown into uncertainty by more than a year of fighting between Israel and Lebanon from late 2023, in parallel to Israel's war on Gaza and by the overthrow of former Syrian dictator Bashar Assad in December 2024.
In 2020, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco became the first Arab states to establish ties with Israel since Jordan in 1994 and Egypt in 1979. The normalisation agreements with Israel were deeply unpopular in the Arab world.
"We have an interest in adding countries such as Syria and Lebanon, our neighbours, to the circle of peace and normalisation, while safeguarding Israel's essential and security interests," Saar said at a press conference in Jerusalem.
"The Golan will remain part of the State of Israel", he said.
Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 after capturing the territory from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War.
While most of the international community regards the Golan as occupied Syrian land, U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over it during his first term in office.
A senior Syrian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Syria would never give up the Golan Heights, describing it as an integral part of Syrian territory.
The official also said that normalization efforts with Israel must be part of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and not carried out through a separate track.
A spokesperson for Syria's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The 2002 initiative proposed Arab normalization with Israel in exchange for its withdrawal from occupied territories, including the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and Gaza.
It also called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem, which Israel also captured in 1967, as its capital.
Throughout the war in Gaza, regional power Saudi Arabia has repeatedly said that establishing ties with Israel was conditional on the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
Israel's Saar said it was "not constructive" for other states to condition normalization on Palestinian statehood.
"Our view is that a Palestinian state will threaten the security of the State of Israel," he said.
In May, Reuters reported that Israel and Syria's new government were in direct contact and had held face-to-face meetings aimed at calming tensions and preventing conflict in the border region between the enemies.
U.S. President Donald Trump met Syria's president in Saudi Arabia in the same month and urged him to normalize ties with Israel, making a surprise announcement that the U.S. would lift all sanctions on the interim government.
