After the Lebanon war, Assad offered to open negotiations with Olmert, but Israel dismissed his overture as a tactic to ease his regime's isolation in the West.
Last week, however, a senior Israeli official said Olmert was assessing prospects for new talks.
It is not clear what drove the turnaround.
The inconclusive Lebanon war made Olmert too politically weak at home to make headway with his proposed withdrawal from large swaths of the West Bank and negotiations with Syria could help to dispel the widespread image in Israel that he has no political agenda.
Alternatively, Olmert might have reached the conclusion that Syria is serious about making peace or that Israel should not rebuff peace overtures.
Palestinian analysts have speculated Israeli is trying to undermine Syria's support for Palestinian militants and to divert attention from stagnated Israeli-Palestinian talks.
Returning Golan, which Israel annexed in 1981, is not a popular idea in Israel because the heights dominate much of northern Israel.
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