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Israel-Syria Rapprochement?
Media reports suggest that there has been a significant move from Israel to find an amicable solution to the crisis between them and Syria. Israel has utilized the services of Turkish government to achieve that goal, if they are only keen to resolve the decades' turmoil in Mideast.
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has opened a Syrian-Turkish business forum in Damascus. Turkey has close relations with both Israel and Syria as well as with the US. Syria has had poor relations with the Bush administration and Washington's regional allies Saudi Arabia and Egypt, particularly over what they see as the obstructive role played by Damascus in efforts aimed at resolving Lebanon's political crisis.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to Syria on April 26 in an effort to mediate possible peace talks between that country and Israel and held talks in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Syrian President confirmed in remarks published on 24 April that Turkey has indeed relayed a message from Israel expressing a readiness to swap the Golan Heights for peace. Bashar Assad said that Turkey had been mediating between his country and Israel since April last year. Assad told Qatar's al-Watan newspaper that Turkish involvement had yielded an Israeli offer to withdraw from the Golan Heights in return for a peace treaty with Syria. Assad said, confirming reports of Turkish mediation that emerged. "What we now need is to find common ground through the Turkish mediator," he said, adding that any negotiations with Israel would be conducted via Ankara.
The Syria-Israel contacts are taking place despite tension between the two neighbors over an Israeli air raid on a Syrian military facility in September. Some foreign reports said the target was a nuclear installation being built with North Korean assistance. Damascus says the facility was military, but not a nuclear one.
Golan Heights
The Golan Heights area, , a strategic plateau that overlooks northern Israel and southern Syria, currently under Israeli occupation and control, also is one of Israel's most important sources of water. Israel, which captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 war, however, as a usual tactic, declined to comment on the reported offer to return the territory. Israel captured the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move never recognized by the international community. Turkish Prime Minister has informed Assad of Israel's readiness to withdraw from the Golan in return for peace with Syria, according to the Qatari daily Al-Watan.
As its price for peace, Syria has consistently demanded from Israel the return of the whole of the Golan right down to the shores of the Sea of Galilee -- Israel's main water source. Israel balked at the demand in the most recent peace talks, which broke off in 2000. But Israeli media reported last year that the government was considering accepting it in return for Syrian agreement to end its longstanding alliance with Iran and its support for Lebanese and Palestinian militant groups.
Despite a 1974 armistice, the two sides remain technically in a state of war. As recently as last September Israel launched an air strike against a site in northeastern Syria. Damascus reacted furiously to the raid, roundly rejecting Israeli charges that the site was military. In excerpts from an interview to be published in full on Sunday, the paper quoted Assad as saying that Ankara has been mediating between Israel and Syria since April last year.
Syria and Israel last held peace negotiations in 2000. Those talks collapsed over the extent of Israel's proposed withdrawal. It was not clear how much of the Golan Israel may be prepared to return or what its conditions may be for withdrawal. Last June two Israeli ministers confirmed that peace feelers had been made to Syria through third party governments, one of which was widely identified as Turkey. Assad's remarks came a day after reports in Syria that Erdogan has assured Damascus that Israel is ready to return all of the Golan Heights in return for peace.
Israeli position
Israel is adamant on Golan Heights issue. Israeli premier Ehud Olmert has never committed himself publicly to a return of the Golan, saying only that he was willing to resume peace talks with Syria if it dropped its support for Hezbollah and Hamas.
Olmert's spokesman, while withholding direct comment on Assad's remarks, said Israel wanted peace talks with Syria. "We have no specific comment on President Assad's statements," Mark Regev told AFP in Jerusalem. But "Israel wants peace and wants to engage in peace negotiations with Syria. We know what Syria would expect from such negotiations and Syria knows what we would expect."
Israeli Tourism Minister Yitzhak Herzog, a member of the inner security cabinet, said that Israel was in no hurry to give up the Golan, however. "The Golan is precious to us all and no one is in a hurry to relinquish it... We're not there yet anyway... but the fact that both sides are talking peace is in itself positive," he told Israeli public radio.
A Word
The Turkish prime minister still says that Turkey can make a "positive contribution" in forging peace between the two nations, as well between the Israelis and Palestinians. The Israeli government says Mr. Olmert did send a message to Syria about resuming peace talks, but will not disclose the details of the message. According to the latest reports, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert assured Erdogan of his readiness to return the Golan. But the problem is Israel keep shifting its stated position as often as the "US situation" demands of them.
It is too early to suggest a well thought settlement plan is in the offing from Tel-Aviv as a part of Israeli composite policy to secure peace with Arab nations by settling all disputes with them. An Arab Peace proposal is till on the table, but constantly ignored by Israel since mainly because Israel is supported by the USA. Turkey plays a proactive role in the settlement of the dispute and return of Syrian lands occupied by Israel to Syria.
Not only Israeli policy is intertwined with American, but also equally confusing too. Israel is keen to be the key power in Mideast controlling the Arab nations and USA supports that ambition of Israel. The USA is accusing Iran and Syria of trying to destabilize Iraq and according to its diction both are "rogue states" and "axis of evils". Iran and Syria have repeatedly denied trying to destabilize Iraq. Iran and Syria must stop sending weapons and foreign fighters into Iraq. The main question is: Is Israel serious to resolve the crisis and can the Arabs take their words sincere enough, especially after what US President Bush has said recently in Israel about Iran, Syria and Hamas, while praising Israel, in excessive dosage, while jointly celebrating Israeli 60th anniversary?
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Thank you
Yours Sincerely,
DR.ABDUL RUFF Colachal
Researcher in International Relations,
Analyst, Columnist & Commentator
South Asia
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