When the Israelis’ controversial twenty-two-day military campaign in Gaza ended,on January 18th, it also seemed to conclude the promising peace talks between Israel and Syria. The two countries had been engaged for nearly a year in negotiations through intermediaries in Istanbul. Many complicated technical matters had been resolved, and there were agreements in principle on the normalization of diplomatic relations. The consensus,as an ambassador now serving in Tel Aviv put it, was that the two sides had been “a lot closer than you might deem.”
Source: newyorker.com