Turkey negotiator between Israel and Syria

Safire wrote, "In Syria, a hiding place for Saddam’s finances, henchmen and weaponry — and exporter of Hezbollah and Hamas terrorism — Dictator Bashar al-Assad is nervously seeking to re-open negotiations with Israel to regain strategic heights his father lost in the last Syrian aggression. Secret talks have already begun (I suspect through Turkey, Israel’s Muslim friend, rather than the unfriendly European Union); this would not have happened while Saddam was able to choke off illicit oil shipments to Syria."