NEW DELHI, Dec 12: A mere handshake recently between the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Israel in Istanbul has prompted India to revive its faltering dialogue with the Jewish state, the Indian Express reported on Monday.

“Caught on the backfoot by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s tactical overtures towards Tel Aviv, New Delhi has hurriedly brought back Israel on its radar with the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Defence Cooperation meeting on Dec 15,” the newspaper said.

In its report from Tel Aviv, the newspaper said a strategic dialogue between the National Security Advisers of the two countries was also being revived after a break of four years.

Israel’s National Security Adviser Giora Eiland was scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on Dec 23 to start talks with his counterpart M. K. Narayanan, but had to defer it on personal grounds. He is now expected next month and diplomats are working out dates.

The Express quoted official sources as saying that discussions between the two would revolve round Iran’s nuclear issue, Islamic fundamentalism, exchange of counter-terror intelligence and the effectiveness of Israeli’s counter-infiltration devices along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.

Significantly, the Express said, Mr Eiland will also brief his counterpart on his government’s stand on relationship with Islamabad that began with “the now famous handshake between Pakistan Foreign Minister Kursheed Kasuri with his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom at Istanbul on Sept 1.”

Israeli Defence Secretary Yaakov Toran arrives for the JWG on military cooperation meeting on Dec 15. The last JWG met in Israel last December.

Keen to go beyond the defence buyer-seller relationship, the two visiting dignitaries are going to convey Tel Aviv’s message to add more ‘political depth’ to the bilateral relationship, the report said. There is a standing invitation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Israel.