Israel did not present proposals on borders to the Syrians during the current Israeli-Syrian peace talks in the United States, Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy said on January 10.

Upon his return from the talks in the U.S., Levy told reporters at the Ben Gurion International Airport that the two sides at the peace talks in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, only presented their positions on key issues to be discussed and no decisions have been made so far.

But the peace talks, which started last Monday, have built up confidence for both sides and have laid a solid foundation for the two sides to strike a peace deal in a short time, he said.

He rejected the reports on Sunday by London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that Prime Minister Ehud Barak has proposed to Syria on the border issue, indicating Israel is ready to withdraw from the Golan Heights to the international border of 1923 demarcated by French and British mandate, which would mean a full Israeli withdrawal.

The border issue will be discussed in the later stage of the peace talks and Israel insisted that normalization of ties, water rights and security arrangement be solve first, he said.

He added that the London-based Arabic-language newspaper's report about the content of the "working document" was also inaccurate.

Al-Hayat on Sunday published in details about the "working document" presented to the two negotiating teams by U.S. President Bill Clinton which summarized positions of both sides on key issues and suggested the U.S. ideas for their settlement.

The next round of talks should be held soon, the Israeli minister said.

Levy returned home earlier than the other members of the Israeli delegation due to his planned visit to Morocco this week.

Meanwhile, Israeli opposition parties urged again on Monday that Barak should present to the public about the peace talks as soon as he returns home.

During the talks, the two sides have to solve the issues on water, security arrangements, borders, normalization of ties, before striking a peace treaty.

Syria and Israel held their first highest-level meetings last December in Washington after a 45-month break.

Both sides agreed to continue their talks for possible agreements on the several issues, the most important of which is the Golan Heights, snatched by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.