The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is all of a sudden open to peace negotiations with Damascus and the Syrians are cautiously cooperative. Superficially, this is good news.
The implication is that Syria would get back the strategically important Golan Heights when family members separated since 1967 would no longer have to communicate with each other using a loud speaker.
Finally elderly mothers would have the chance to hug their children and cuddle their grandchildren for the first time. Long separated siblings would be able to share a meal together and old friends could catch up on lives lived apart for more than four decades.
Just as importantly, the oppressive mantle of occupation would be lifted and with it the sense of resentment felt by every Syrian at the way Israel lobbed off one of the most beautiful parts of their land holding it hostage every since.
Acting as intermediary between Israelis and Syrians is the Turkish government which is friends with both countries. This is a new role for Ankara, which also plans to engage in proactive peace-making throughout the region.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he supports Israeli-Syrian dialogue and promises to back any agreement that may be reached saying he does not believe the Israeli-Palestinian peace process will be compromised.
Officially, at least, the Iranians sound positive too. "The more territories Syria recovers, the happier Iran will be," said an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, adding, "The Golan Heights were occupied by Israel and must be returned with no preconditions".
But here's the nub. Israel will impose preconditions on its return of the Golan - lots of them.
First off, Damascus will have to alienate itself from Tehran. Second, it will be expected to drop its support for Hezbollah, and, third, it will be required to dump Hamas.
Furthermore, if the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty is anything to go by Syria will have to agree to restrictions on troop numbers and types of weapons kept near its border.
Nevertheless, Syria will no doubt find this opening door attractive. Its priority has long been to regain its captured territory and now the possibility seriously looms large. Moreover, Damascus may be tempted to end its isolation with the hope of once again being enveloped in the arms of its Sunni neighbours and the West.
But Damascus isn't in that much of a hurry. First, it wants Israel to guarantee that the entire Golan Heights would be on the table during talks. And second, the Syrian government will not sign up to anything while President George W. Bush resides in the White House as it fears the current US administration is incapable of being an honest broker.
Hesitant
Syria's President Bashar Assad is right to be hesitant. Since 2003, Syria has come in for a battering at the hands of the Bush administration. During the US-led invasion of Iraq it was accused of allowing insurgents and weapons to cross its borders.
In 2005, it was pressurised into withdrawing from Lebanon. And during that same year it was openly blamed for the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, although a UN enquiry has failed to substantiate that accusation.
Then last September, Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace to bomb a site, which the US now says was a nuclear reactor intended for the production of nuclear weapons using North Korean know-how.
This claim is vehemently denied by the Syrians and the North Koreans, while the country's ambassador to the US Emad Moustapha had described alleged photographs of the reactor in the hands of the CIA as "fabricated", "ludicrous" and"laughable".
It's clear that the US and Israel are attempting to squeeze Syria into compliance with their "New Middle East" ideology, which translated means a pliable, pro-Western region.
Ever since Bashar showed his distaste for the invasion of Iraq and tore former British Prime Minister Tony Blair off a strip, his country could do no right in the eyes of the West.
A natural-born sceptic, my own interpretation is this. The US and Israel are currently playing bad cop and good cop respectively. While the US is hitting Damascus over the head with anything incriminating it can lay its hands on whether real or imaginary, Israel is tentatively extending a hand.
If Syria decides to take it only to discover it is later withdrawn it risks losing its Iranian ally and may end up a lot more vulnerable financially and militarily than it is now. I still remember the days before Damascus got cosy with Tehran when Syria was being labelled by many in Washington as a "low-hanging fruit".
Now Israel may be using the Golan as another type of low-hanging fruit. Syria would do well to remember the mythological story of Tantalus, the son of Zeus, who was made to stand in a pool of water under a fruit tree as a punishment.
Each time he hungrily reached for the fruit it escaped from his grasp and every time he bent down to drink, the water receded.
Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She can be contacted at lheard@gulfnews.com
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