Why, Exactly, Should Israel Give the Golan Back To Syria?
Lebanon's official government and press - perennially playing the pathetic lapdog to Syria's abusive owner - is making wild and not very credible insinuations about how it behooves Israel to rush to the peace table with Syria:
Nearly unnoticed amid the justified global furore over North Korea's nuclear test is that Syria has been flashing peace signals at Israel and the United States. It is unwise to ignore them... Syrian President Bashar Assad told a BBC interviewer earlier this month that Syria was prepared to return to the peace table with Israel, insisting that he needed an "impartial" umpire, perhaps from the European Union. But he said the Bush administration couldn't play this role, because the US doesn't have "the will or vision" to pursue peace in the Middle East, nor is there concrete US-Syria dialogue.
"Unwise to ignore them"... or else what? Or else Syria will supply weapons to Hezbollah and Hamas? Or else Syria will welcome terrorists to Damascus? Or else Syria will incite anti-Israel sentiment across the Middle East?
Whatever. Assad is not Sadat. Sadat, say what you will about him, actually had some credibility. Assad is a powerless pipsqueak who literally looks longingly at a lunatic taxi driver from Tehran - and it's the lunatic taxi driver that has the real power. Assad has nothing to give Israel, and frankly he's been kind of uppity lately. Don't get us wrong. We're officially on the record as being in favor of an Israeli-Syrian peace deal. We just don't think Assad - given his delusions of relevance - would particularly like the terms.
Nearly unnoticed amid the justified global furore over North Korea's nuclear test is that Syria has been flashing peace signals at Israel and the United States. It is unwise to ignore them... Syrian President Bashar Assad told a BBC interviewer earlier this month that Syria was prepared to return to the peace table with Israel, insisting that he needed an "impartial" umpire, perhaps from the European Union. But he said the Bush administration couldn't play this role, because the US doesn't have "the will or vision" to pursue peace in the Middle East, nor is there concrete US-Syria dialogue.
"Unwise to ignore them"... or else what? Or else Syria will supply weapons to Hezbollah and Hamas? Or else Syria will welcome terrorists to Damascus? Or else Syria will incite anti-Israel sentiment across the Middle East?
Whatever. Assad is not Sadat. Sadat, say what you will about him, actually had some credibility. Assad is a powerless pipsqueak who literally looks longingly at a lunatic taxi driver from Tehran - and it's the lunatic taxi driver that has the real power. Assad has nothing to give Israel, and frankly he's been kind of uppity lately. Don't get us wrong. We're officially on the record as being in favor of an Israeli-Syrian peace deal. We just don't think Assad - given his delusions of relevance - would particularly like the terms.
