<B>An </B>Israeli lawmaker who met with the son of Muammar Gaddafi five months ago said Wednesday the Libyan leader could go so far as to forge ties with the Jewish state that has long considered him a foe. But a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry source said ?the road to establishing relations between Israel and Libya is a long one? and Gaddafi ?must prove by action that he truly intends to conduct dialogue.?

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was also skeptical about any meetings with Libyan officials, including secret talks which political sources said took place two weeks ago between a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official and a Libyan representative.

Libya dismissed a report of the meeting in December as a baseless rumor. Word of a diplomatic initiative emerged after Libya issued a surprise announcement last month that it was abandoning its unconventional weapons, an action welcomed by the United States as a key step toward ending Libya?s international isolation. Ephraim Sneh of the opposition Labor party said that he and a member of Shinui, a centrist party in Israel?s governing coalition, in August met Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, whom analysts believe is being groomed as his father?s successor.

?My impression is that Gaddafi has made a strategic decision and he is not a man who takes small steps,? Sneh told Israel Radio. ?He will not stop midway and could even go as far as forging ties with Israel ... Right now it is in Gaddafi?s hands.? Any breakthrough would be a major turnabout in relations between the two countries. Libya has long been a sworn foe of Israel and for years sheltered anti-Israel militants, including Palestinian guerrilla chief Abu Nidal who died of gunshot wounds in Baghdad last year.

In 1973, Israel shot down a Libyan airliner with more than 100 people aboard after it strayed over its airspace. At a non-aligned summit in Belgrade in 1989, Gaddafi suggested that Jews should move to a new homeland in either the French region of Alsace-Lorraine, Alaska or the Baltic states.

Political sources confirmed a television report that senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official Ron Prosor met a Libyan representative two weeks ago to discuss opening a dialogue. The sources said Sharon received a report on the meeting but it was not known whether the talks had yielded any progress. The Foreign Ministry source voiced concern that the media leaks about the meeting could jeopardize further talks.

Israel?s Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, visiting Ethiopia was quoted by Israeli television as telling accompanying reporters that media reports about an official Israeli-Libyan meeting ?seriously harmed the chances of warming relations.? Libya?s official Jana news agency said ?official circles in Libya have searched, checked and investigated in the past 48 hours that followed the broadcast of this rumor and have found no trace (of it).?

Israel?s daily Yedioth Ahronoth cited officials as saying Prosor was told that Libya would find it easier to forge ties once there was peace between Israel and the Palestinians, who have been locked in violent conflict for more than three years.