State Department Bait And Switch Puts Golan Heights On The Annapolis Agenda, Gets Syria To Attend (Plus: Saudi Arabia Got Condi To Do It To Undermine US Anti-Terrorism Efforts)
The dozens of countries showing up to pressure Israel at Annapolis now have another bullet point on the agenda:
In the end, Washington decided to change the topic of the third session from "the Arab states' involvement in the process" to "the effort to achieve a comprehensive regional peace" - language that implies peace deals with Syria and Lebanon as well as the Palestinians. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak all left for Annapolis Saturday night. Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will lead a final round of talks aimed at drafting a joint Israeli-Palestinian declaration. Livni and Rice will also discuss the contents of the session on a comprehensive regional peace.
Since Israel can realistically refuse only so much before coming off as hopelessly intransigent, the State Department has taken to basically throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. As of this morning, it looks like Syria is willing to show up to see what the State Department can pressure Israel to hand over.
Why the Golan by the by? In order to get even more Arab countries to show up and help pressure Israel. This is being done even - specifically - at the expense of the US's most basic positions on the Middle East:
A phone call by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to her Saudi counterpart, Saud al-Faisal, apparently persuaded the Arab foreign ministers to attend Annapolis. The key was her promise that the Golan Heights would be on the agenda. Damascus is still refusing to commit, but that is no longer important: Even if Syria stays away, it will now be violating the Arab consensus, which has given its imprimatur to Annapolis... Even more important, however, the Arab states needed to ensure that Syria was included, because they - and especially Saudi Arabia - need Syrian help to resolve the crisis in Lebanon. As a bonus, Syria's inclusion helps blur the American distinction between moderate and radical states; it also creates a linkage between the Palestinian and Syrian tracks.
In a vicious cycle - but not, it seems, an entirely accidental one - the State Department loads the agenda with anti-Israel initiatives to get more anti-Israel participants, who then make the price of their participation even more anti-Israel initiatives. The upshot is that there will be too many countries and too many things for Israel to say no to at Annapolis. This is turning from a peace conference into an open, preplanned attack on the diplomatic and military security of Israel.
References:
* U.S. inviting Syria to summit due to air strike [Ha'aretz]
* Syrian MP: Damascus is likely to attend Annapolis [Ha'aretz]
* ANALYSIS / Arab FMs attendance is first victory of Annapolis [Ha'aretz]
Previously:
* State Department Gets Bright Idea: Let's Screw Israel Even More By Bundling Syria Into The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
* Palestinians Prepare For Peace Summit By Shooting Israeli Civilian In West Bank (Plus: Two Dozen Rockets And Mortars Hit Israel Monday)
* Tuesday Headline Link Dump - Palestinians Set Peace Process Conditions And The Israeli Right Implodes (Plus: There May Be No One We Do Not Hate)
