Israel’s Prime Minister is reported to have sent twenty messages to Syria’s President about peace talks. So far he appears to have been rebuffed. Why is Ehud Olmert so keen? Several answers come to mind.
1. He knows that if Israel can make peace with Syria, it will also have dealt with Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south, both being the clients of Iran that’s using Syria as its front.
This in turn means that if Syria ceases to be a threat, Iran is no longer that much of an issue. If it no longer threatens Israel through its terrorist stooges, the need to wage war against it will have greatly diminished. The concessions Israel would have to make to Syria are likely to be much less painful than the cost of war with Iran.
2. As long as Olmert can keep up the image of peace maker, his government, despite all its internal problems, remains reasonably safe while the stance of the opposition to his right, as articulated by its leader Binyamin Netanyahu, becomes more and more hollow. And staying in power is as important to Olmert as is keeping Netanyahu out of it.
The image of Olmert as peace maker also takes the sails out of the opposition from the left. Though it’s not as much a threat as is the opposition from the right, Haim Oron, the newly elected leader of Meretz, may make more of a splash in the next general election than his predecessor Yossi Beilin ever could. In order to bring Meretz into the proverbial tent, Olmert – through the leader of the Labor party, for whom Meretz is a serious rival – has invited Oron to join the government. The latter refused. He could have quoted the Yiddish adage that with a healthy head you don’t lay down in a sick bed.
3. Making peace with Syria would sit well with the Americans. Insurgents often find their way to Iraq from Syria, where they’re being trained and equipped together with other terrorists. To have Syria pacified by Israel would be good news for the United States and Olmert likes bringing good news to the United States. He goes out of his way to make nice to the many visitors from the American administration whom he receives in Jerusalem. He must be upset that Condoleezza Rice isn’t happy with Israel’s pace at the negotiations with the Palestinians.
4. Peace with Syria would probably make it easier to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority as it would weaken Hamas and thus allow for greater courage on the part of Abu Mazen and his team. Perhaps then Annapolis could become a reality.
5. Abu Mazen didn’t speak nicely about Israel at the Arab League summit in Damascus. But that wasn’t important as most major players – the leaders of the so-called moderate Arab states – stayed away. They would be grateful to Israel because a tame Syria may take her dirty hands off Lebanon, which would be good for all.
Despite the official grandstanding on both sides, there’re those who say – among them at least one Israeli cabinet minister - that negotiations with Syria are, in fact, already underway. This may be good news for us peaceniks. But those for whom the land of Israel is more important than the peace of Israel are likely to be nervous. For, in addition to much American cash, the price that Israel would have to pay is bound to be the Golan Heights, even if that’s a less bitter pill to swallow than war with Iran.
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