Jerusalem (AP) -- Israel has a "strategic goal" in making peace with Syria, but first its northern neighbor must rein in militants, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said today, two days after Syria's leader said he wanted to negotiate publicly with the Jewish state.

Shalom told reporters that peace with Syria would mean the end to hostilities with all Israel's immediate Arab neighbors, because Lebanon, which Israel considers a Syrian puppet, would follow in its wake.

Egypt and Jordan have already signed peace treaties with Israel.

"I think that peace with Syria is a strategic goal for the State of Israel" he said. "(It) would mean that all the countries we share a border with would be at peace with us and of course that would also make future negotiations with the Palestinians easier."

On Oct. 9 Syrian President Bashar Assad denied media reports that Syria has held secret peace talks with Israel, saying his country wants to negotiate publicly.

"For us, the peace process would never be anything but public," he said.

Since taking office in July 2000 following the death of his father, Assad has said Syria is ready to resume peace talks with Israel.

He insists they begin where they left off when negotiations collapsed in 2000, after Israel offered to withdraw from most of the Golan Heights.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has rebuffed Assad's offers to resume talks, saying Syria must first expel militant Palestinian groups based in Damascus and rein in Hezbollah guerrillas posted along the Lebanon-Israel border.

In his remarks Monday, Shalom reiterated Sharon's demand, calling on Syria to stop aiding militants and to end logistic help for Hezbollah.

"President Assad can't hold the stick from both sides," he said. "The seriousness of intentions will be proven if he acts on these issues."