"We have no intention to conduct these negotiations neither in the media, nor in daily statements, nor in slogans," Olmert said before the weekly cabinet meeting.

"I can say we are taking these negotiations seriously. There has been, and will be, very precise and detailed preparations, which are appropriate for the expectations we have of these negotiations, given the current reality, not that of nine or 10 years ago."

Both Israel and Syria confirmed on Wednesday they have launched indirect peace talks, with Turkey acting as mediator, after an eight-year freeze.

Olmert said the process of establishing the indirect talks with Syria began in February 2007.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak defended the negotiations with Syria and predicted lengthy discussions.

"Israel would have made a mistake had it decided to abort the talks with Syria. We must brace ourselves for long negotiations," an official quoted Barak as saying during the cabinet meeting.

In any peace deal the Syrians want the return of all of the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981, a move never recognised internationally.

Polls show that public opinion in Israel opposes withdrawing from the Golan, now home to some 20,000 Jewish settlers and military installations.

Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit on Sunday suggested the disputed region could be leased from Syria as part of a future peace deal.

"I propose leasing the Golan from the Syrians for 25 years. If they are serious about peace they have nothing to lose," said Sheetrit, a member of Olmert's centrist Kadima party.

Sheetrit said he was prepared to recognise Syrian sovereignty over the Golan, but a leasing period would allow for the gradual removal of Jewish settlers there.

Former army chief Dan Halutz also joined the debate, claiming that Israel can manage without the plateau bordering the Sea of Galilee, the country's main source of fresh water.

"We can manage without (the Golan) as we did in the past," Halutz said on military radio.

"When we launch discussions with Syria, everyone knows what is on the table and we must explore all possibilities to make peace with our enemies," said Halutz, who quit in January 2007 over criticism of his handling of the 34-day Lebanon war against the Iran- and Syria-backed Hezbollah militia.

Israel is demanding that Damascus break off its ties with Iran and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah, which Israel considers to be terrorist organisations.

Syria has said it would reject any preconditions in the talks that call on Damascus to change its relations with other countries or groups.

Israel considers Iran to ge the greatest threat to the region with its disputed nuclear programme. Both Israel and the United States believe Tehran is covertly developing an atomic bomb -- a charge Iran denies.

Iran and the indirect peace talks with Syria will be among the topics Olmert discusses with US President George W. Bush during a three-day visit to Washington from June 3.

The main focus will be on peace negotiations with the Palestinians, relaunched in November, that have so far made little tangible progress despite heavy US pressure.

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