It's almost the forgotten casualty of January's war in Gaza: Israel and Syria's indirect courtship over a lasting peace deal.

A Turkish official has told Israel's Haaretz newspaper that Israel and Syria were on the cusp of face to face talks in the run-up to January's war in Gaza.

It was potentially a huge breakthrough.

Remember that these two countries are still technically at war over the disputed Golan Heights - land Israel took from Syria during the the Six Day War of 1967.

For months the two sides have been holding indirect talks through Turkish mediators.

Haaretz's source claims Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had even succeeded in drafting out a joint statement announcing that his Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would get round the table.

But a day later, Olmert and his cabinet unleashed Operation Cast Lead on Hamas.

Erdogan was reportedly furious with what he regarded as Olmert's betrayal of their tentative steps towards peace.

It must have been on his mind when he walked out of a debate with Israeli President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum.

Syria is an important ally for Hamas: its exiled leadership is based in the capital, Damascus.

Tempers are now well and truly frayed. According to one analyst speaking to the United Arab Emirates' The National , Syrian trust of Israel has evaporated.

So at best, it looks like Syria and Israel have thrown in the towel for now - and the future doesn't look much better.

Israel has taken a decisive lurch to the right.

The centrist Kadima leader Tzipi Livni might have won, but she has to duke it out with Likud's hawkish Benjamin Netanyhu for the PM spot.

And any government either one of them forms is likely to depend on the involvement of Avigdor Lieberman and his agenda of steamrollering over the peace process.

Livni supports the return of the Golan Heights to Syria. Although Netanyhu has ruled out any Israeli withdrawal, it's thought he might be willing to make concessions.

Not so with kingmaker Lieberman. Returning the Golan Heights is out of the question. Under his plan, Syria would have to make do with an Israeli presence in the Golan Heights in return for economic aid and recognition from the international community.

So it could fall to Barack Obama to pick up the baton.

The US president is sending former presidential contender John Kerry to Syria and Israel next week as head of the Senate's Foreign Relations committee.

It's a mission aimed at building bridges, so it's unlikely Kerry will start bossing about President al-Assad over relations with Israel.

But he might be able to offer reassurances that the US isn't about to let a rightwing Israeli agenda cripple the peace process.

And it could be enough to start steering Israel and Syria back on course to rewriting a chapter in their troubled histories.