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How to deal with Syria
Ha'aretz Daily ^ | 4/16/03 | Editorial

Posted on 04/15/2003 2:56:59 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

How to deal with Syria

A dozen years ago, George Bush, the 41st president of the United States, and father of the current president, managed to enlist Hafez Assad, the former Syrian president and the father of the current one, into the coalition against Iraq. That was a purposeful alliance, which led to, among other things, the Madrid Peace Conference on the Middle East.

The relations between the sons who rose to power in Washington and Damascus is tense. George W. Bush went to war against Saddam Hussein, while Bashar Assad helped Saddam's regime with military supplies and granting shelter to escaping members of the regime. In response, Syria has been sharply reprimanded and warned by the Americans.

Syria is on Bush's list of "axis of evil" countries - alongside Libya and ranked just below Iraq, Iran and North Korea. In addition to his complaints concerning Syrian cooperation with Saddam Hussein and his associates, Bush mentioned on Sunday, in response to a question, the chemical weapons in Syrian hands.

This is not new. Syria has missile batteries and rockets armed with chemical and possibly biological warheads, as well as the capability of manufacturing such payloads. The Syrians say these weapons are meant as a deterrence to balance the nuclear power they attribute to Israel. As opposed to Iraq in its war against Iran, and even the Egyptians in their war 40 years ago in Yemen, Syria has never used chemical weapons.

The Syrian provocation is also to be seen in its ties to organizations hostile to Israel - Palestinian (Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front - General command) and Lebanese (Hezbollah). The global U.S. campaign against terror is also aimed at these groups and the countries that provide them shelter. If the United States succeeds in forcing Iran and Syria to cease their support for these organizations that are trying to harm Israel inside its borders, in the territories and overseas, it would be another substantial contribution - following the removal of Iraq from the circle of hostile countries - to Israel's security.

The situation that has emerged on Israel's northern front - from the moment the Iraqi threat was neutralized, thus eliminating the eastern front - justifies opening a diplomatic, not a military, campaign. Syria, bound by Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon, is now more isolated than ever before. It cannot count on the Russians, who were unable to help Saddam, nor on Egypt, its partner in the Yom Kippur War but which chose peace with Israel. This opens the way for an Israeli initiative to renew peace talks that were cut off three years ago at the meeting of Hafez Assad and President Clinton in Geneva.

At that time, Israel and Syria were on the verge of an agreement. The gap between Assad and then-premier Ehud Barak was bridgeable. After Assad's death and his son's rise to power, Barak unilaterally withdrew from Lebanon and the Palestinians opened their violent conflict with Israel.

Renewing the Israeli-Syrian talks, based on the framework set by Barak, Clinton and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shara at Shepherdstown, could thaw the tension between Washington and Damascus and bring Israel closer to another peace agreement that would have an impact on the contacts with the Palestinians.

The price Israel would have to pay, a withdrawal from the Golan, should not deter the Sharon government from renewing the negotiations.



TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; Israel
KEYWORDS: assad; barak; deal; golanheights; syria

1 posted on 04/15/2003 2:57:00 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge

2 posted on 04/15/2003 3:08:55 PM PDT by annyokie (provacative yet educational reading alert)
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3 posted on 04/15/2003 3:10:00 PM PDT by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
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To: annyokie
M.O.A.B.s
4 posted on 04/15/2003 3:11:09 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch (Liberate Syria; Support the Troops!)
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To: NormsRevenge
Counterbalancing Israel is hardly an excuse for Syria to own this stuff - it is Syria's own fault there is a conflict between them. Defense against Saddam was the only conceivable excuse for Syria to have them. Now that he's gone, there is no more excuse.
5 posted on 04/15/2003 3:11:57 PM PDT by thoughtomator (I predict hysteria at the UN)
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To: NormsRevenge
Giving up the Golan on the hope that Syria would behave seems like a bad strategy to me.
6 posted on 04/15/2003 3:14:41 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: SwinneySwitch
I thought so, too, but had no MOAB pic at the ready.
7 posted on 04/15/2003 3:21:25 PM PDT by annyokie (provacative yet educational reading alert)
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To: NormsRevenge
Lets clean the terrorist scum from Syria. No time like the present. Give the troops a rest then do it.

8 posted on 04/15/2003 3:27:49 PM PDT by FirstTomato ("In the end,We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends" M L King)
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Comment #9 Removed by Moderator

To: NormsRevenge
"None of Syria's official newspapers referred to the fall of Baghdad yesterday, and no editorial discussed the American takeover of the city. Also, no pictures of the toppling of the statue of Saddam were printed."

I thought De Nile was in Egypt?
10 posted on 04/15/2003 4:20:10 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch (Liberate Syria; Support the Troops!)
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To: Pearls Before Swine
Won't happen.
11 posted on 04/15/2003 4:31:21 PM PDT by Robert_Paulson2 (What price treason?)
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To: annyokie
I like the B-52 picture! Can't believe she's still on the job after all these years!
12 posted on 04/15/2003 4:38:17 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch (Liberate Syria; Support the Troops!)
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To: SwinneySwitch
You can't keep an old girl down!
13 posted on 04/15/2003 4:44:02 PM PDT by annyokie (provacative yet educational reading alert)
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Comment #14 Removed by Moderator

To: SwinneySwitch
She's had some great work done to her over the years.
15 posted on 04/15/2003 5:52:56 PM PDT by Publicus
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