I am not surprised by the news. Israel and Syria almost had a peace agreement worked out years ago. The stumbling block was not the Golan Heights. They no longer had the strategic importance they had in 1967. Instead it was where to draw the border. The Israelis wanted it to be to the east of the River Jordan and the Sea of Galilee, thereby leaving all that fresh water within its borders. They didn't care if the border line was 1 meter, 1 kilometer, or 10 kilometers away, as long is it was on dry land. The Syrians, on the other hand, wanted the border to go through the water. It didn't have to go through the dead center. That wasn't important, so long as the River Jordan and the Sea of Galilee were international waterways.