Syria ? Syria’s president is ready for peace with Israel, Sen. Arlen Specter said Sunday after talks with the leader.

Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said the United States had the potential to “bridge the gap” between the two countries, which have not held peace talks since 2000. He said it would be essential that Israel return the disputed Golan Heights region to Syria.

Specter, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat and member of the House Appropriations Committee, held talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad on the last day of their two-day visit to Damascus.

Specter said he had the impression from the meeting that the time was very “positive for productive talks between Israel and Syria.”

“There is a sense that he (Assad) is ready and the Syrian public opinion is ready (for peace),” Specter said.

The atmosphere is “very different in Damascus today and is very different in Jerusalem today” in part because of last month’s U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Md., which Syria attended, Specter said.