Mere Rhetoric: Olmert Offers Golan To Assad In Exchange For Worthless Piece Of Paper. Whatever.

If he's going to do that, he's got about six weeks. So we're not exactly going into paroxysms of agitation:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently relayed a secret message to Syrian President Bashar Assad saying Israel knew what the price of peace was and would be willing to pay it, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday. According to the report, Olmert told the Syrian leader Israel would return the Golan in exchange for a comprehensive peace agreement and the severing of Damascus’ alliance with Iran and terror groups in the region.

Yeah, and we're willing to sell the Kennedy Center to our friends the leprechauns, in exchange for their magic rainbow unicorns. Doesn't mean that it's going to happen.

We're a little more worried about this screaming Ha'aretz headline: Senior Likud, Labor lawmakers back moves for Syria peace talks. But the senior Likud member they quote is Silvan Shalom, and he says something a lot more circumspect than that:

Army Radio on Thursday evening quoted former foreign minister Silvan Shalom of the Likud as saying that Israel must be attentive to signals of peace coming from Syria, but simultaneously, be ready for any scenario. "We must aspire to achieve peace, but at the same time not close our eyes," he said. Shalom emphasized that any move involving Damascus must be coordinated with the United States and the moderate Arab states, the radio said.

If Labor throws their weight behind giving Assad back the Golan in exchange for his promise of thinking about strongly chiding Hezbollah the next time that it kidnaps Israeli soldiers - as it will inevitably do since it's an Islamist organization committed to the destruction of Israel - then it actually becomes a matter of some urgency to get Bibi elected. No, we can't believe we just wrote that either.

References:
* Olmert to Assad: Israel willing to withdraw from Golan Heights
* Senior Likud, Labor lawmakers back moves for Syria peace talks

Previously:
* This Summer's War With Syria - Syria Openly Brags About Preparing For War
* Syria Ready To Stop Openly Seeking Annihilation Of Israel For A Couple Of Months
* Syria Petulantly Whines To UN About the Golan, Syrians Held By Israel, Unfairness Of Life In General

About

Omri Ceren is a PhD student studying Rhetoric at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication. He lives in downtown Los Angeles.
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