A biweekly feature of news and opinion pieces from the Israeli and Palestinian press.
1.) Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said again this week that he is interested in pursuing a comprehensive peace deal with Israel to determine the direction of diplomatic relations, as well as the future of the much-coveted Golan Heights. In a worrying sign, however, Assad also stated that an agreement would not necessarily lead to full normalization of relations. “Restoration of land and rights may lead to relations based on routine, but not normalization. What happened in Jordan and Egypt is proof to us that the public does not want normalization, and therefore nobody can impose it on anybody else. I know that the Syrian people reject normalization and therefore I will not impose it on them,” he said.
In the Israeli press, there is much skepticism about Assad’s intentions. Many observers think that Syria is just posturing, but has little interest in actually achieving an agreement. As one columnist for The Jerusalem Post writes, “Syria wants the hullabaloo of the peace process more than the peace, hoping the process itself will help pave its way back into the good graces of the West. It wants credit for the process, even if nothing comes of it. Israel, for its part, is not interested in giving the Syrians a helping hand in gaining America’s, or the West’s, favor.” The editorial staff of The Jerusalem Post is similarly skeptical, suggesting that Assad may be engaged in peace posturing in an effort to distract attention from reports of nuclear cooperation with Pyongyang. In order for the Syrian offer to be taken seriously, they suggest, Assad will have to show his commitment by either coming to Jerusalem or inviting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Damascus.
2.) Haaretz, in an editorial, is much more supportive of a Syrian-Israeli peace deal, arguing that no effort is too great to secure such an agreement.
Removing Syria from the axis of evil might shuffle the Middle Eastern deck once again, breaking alliances and creating new interests. Israel can reap greater security from a new situation of that kind. There seems to be a need to repeat, over and over, this basic fact: Nothing contributes to Israel’s security more than a peace accord.
Before the protests of solidarity with the Golan Heights begin, it should be emphasized that withdrawal from the Golan in exchange for peace is endorsed not only by bleeding hearts, but by distinctly security-minded figures. The supporters of the Golan are West Bank settlers, like Golan resident Effi Eitam, who see any withdrawal as a national catastrophe; parties that gain strength by sowing security-related fears, such as Israel Beiteinu; those with economic interests in the region, hikers, bird-watchers, wine connoisseurs and winemakers; and mainly the people of the past, who still consider the lookout point on Mount Hermon to be “Israel’s eyes,” even though those eyes did not prove a very effective source of warning in 1973.
3.) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s peace gestures towards Syria have undercut the chances of Defense Minister (and Labor Party leader) Ehud Barak in the upcoming general election, reports The Jerusalem Post. Barak has traditionally tried to position himself as to the left of Olmert on engagement with Damascus, and had even discussed “running on the Syrian issue in the next election to highlight the differences between him and Olmert.” As a senior Labor Party official told the newspaper, “Olmert knows he cannot get votes from the center-right of the political map, so he is trying to prove to people between Meretz and Labor that he is the hope for reaching peace with both the Palestinians and Syria. There is no doubt that this move helped Olmert and hurt Barak politically.”
4.) After a meeting with Mr Bush on Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas acknowledged that little progress is being made towards peace. Despite the renewed interest in Washington, Abbas said that the Bush administration had failed to implement even the first phase of the Road Map.