Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported today that Israel and Syria have officially confirmed indirect peace talks.Ehud Olmert's decision to engage with Syria while the rest of the Arab world has them isolated, is questionable. It is bad for Israel and Lebanon. In fact, only Syria will gain by the process and the peace that will again prove elusive.
Haaretz reports that Syria's foreign minister, Walid Muallim said on Wednesday that "in advance of the negotiations, Israel promised to withdraw from the Golan Heights, to the borders drawn before the Six-Day War of 1967."
- If Israel agreed to withdraw to the international border from 1923 - which is the border from before 1967, that would be one thing. If Israel agreed to the border of 1967, then that is different. The 1967 line is not a border - it was a situation at the time the war began. The line exists on no map and during the 1990s it required demarcation groups to define it. Syria does not see it the way Israel does and in 2000, they demanded access to the Sea of Galilee/Lake Tiberias. There is no reason to believe the case is different now. If Israel agreed to this upfront, they have no other card in their hand.
- All the available evidence suggests that Syria does not want peace with Israel. They need the conflict to retain the status quo and maintain the Asad regime.
- Just like the 1990s, the process is what Syria wants; not the peace. Today, the process will prevent the international community from prosecuting the regime over the assassination of Lebanon's Rafiq al-Hariri and the dozens of other politicians and journalists they've killed in Lebanon who don't tow the Damascus line.
- Haaretz reports that a high-ranking Israeli official familiar with the two country's relations said "It will be a very long process. The direct talks themselves have not yet started." There is no reason for there to be a long process. NOTHING WAS ACHEIVED FOR 10 YEARS OF PROCESS FROM MADRID TO GENEVA. If Syria decided they want peace, then the process would take months, not years.
- If Bashar al-Asad wants peace, then he should act like it: Speak directly to Olmert; hop on a plane to Jerusalem and address the Knesset, stop supplying Hizballah with rockets to fight their proxy war; change the tone in your capital and in your state-run newspapers. These are not the byproducts of peace; they should be the preconditions if the process is even worth having. Why should Israel reward Syria for doing things that are in their interest to begin with?
- The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reports: "It is noteworthy to say that President Bashar al-Assad told Qatari daily alWattan recently that the Turkish mediation which continued from April last year until April this year was led by Erdogan." The process (no peace necessary) will improve Syrian-Turkish relations. Their relations have historically been strained - they almost went to war in 1996 and again in 1998 over Syria's support of PKK terrorism against Turkey.
- SANA also reports: "The president [Asad] indicated that the talks will be indirect through the Turkish mediation which will convey the basic data for finding a common ground which will be the basis for initiating direct negotiations later." This is a long drawn out process and it is needless.
- What pointless gift should the West give to Syria for them pretending to want peace? Should they drop the Hariri murder investigation? Sell Lebanon back into Syrian slavery? Ignore Syria's human rights violations? Ignore their role in terrorism?
Syria should remain isolated because of their behavior - not rewarded. Israel is making a big mistake and Bashar al-Asad is making a fool of the world - again.
For more on the Syrian-Israeli peace process, see: From Madrid to Geneva - The Rise and Fall of the Syrian-Israeli Peace Process.
why now
Post new comment