Israeli Prime Ehud Olmert on Thursday hailed reported comments by Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a key Hizbullah ally, indicating a readiness for peace talks.
"I would be glad to meet with any key player in the Lebanese government," the premier told reporters during a visit to Moscow when asked his reaction.
"Every time an Arab leader speaks of peace he should be answered positively. In this case it's extremely interesting."
Berri, whose Amal movement lost members fighting alongside Hizbullah during this summer's conflict with Israel, was quoted as saying during a trip to Geneva on Tuesday that he was ready for talks based on a four-year-old Arab League peace initiative.
The time "may be very ripe to go back to negotiations on the basis of the Arab initiative," he was quoted as saying by the Lebanese press.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni also welcomed the reported comments, arguing that the new Lebanese readiness for peace talks was the fruit of the Jewish state's devastating July-August offensive.
"It shows that the war against Hizbullah completely changed the situation in Lebanon," she told public radio.
"A few months ago, such comments would never have been uttered in that country."
Based on a Saudi proposal, the Arab League initiative of 2002 offered Israel full normalisation of relations in return for a full withdrawal from Arab territories captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Earlier this month, a cabinet minister called on the Israeli government to accept the plan.
"We should take the bull by the horns and, when I say that, I mean we should accept the moderate (Arab) countries' initiative, the Saudi initiative," Justice and Housing Minister Meir Sheetrit told public radio.
"If we are talking about overall peace, if we want overall peace, we are compelled to accept all the elements of the initiative and withdraw to the 1967 borders," he added.
Recent reports in Israel -- denied in Riyadh -- have mentioned secret talks between Israeli and Saudi officials, with Olmert leaving it understood he had met a member of the kingdom's royal family.
But last month, the prime minister said the Saudi initiative did not constitute a basis for negotiations.