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All that the name implies "
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Draperies
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11 Venetian Blinds
181 S. Woodward Ave.
Birmingham, MI 48011
642-1690
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1.146.
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\891-1818
Kosins
Uptown
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et
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11 1/2 Mile • 559-3900
Big & Tall
Southfield at
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SOUTHFIELD: 24777 Telegraph
353.2500
Other locations: Wayne and Lincoln Park
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 1987
The Road To Damascus
Syrian President Assad is being
courted by both Washington and
Moscow.
HELEN DAVIS
Special to The Jewish News
Jerusalem — No less than
three top-level Soviet delega-
tions have dropped in on
President Hafez Assad of
Syria over the past month.
These were followed by a
visit from Vernon Walters, the
United States Ambassador to
the United Nations, who is
also the low-profile, high-
powered trouble-shooter for
President Reagan.
And last week, the question
of improving relations with
Syria was the preoccupation
of European Community
Foreign Ministers when they
met in Copenhagen.
Hafez Assad is the flavor of
the month — and not just
among the men of the Krem-
lin, with whom he has a close
and binding treaty of friend-
ship. The Syrian leader is also
being vigorously courted by
the Americans, who, until
recently, were muttering dark
imprecations, and by the
Europeans, who, eight
months ago, imposed sanc-
tions against Syria for its in-
volvement in a spate of inter-
national terrorist outrages.
But Assad has made a
number of gestures of contri-
tion in recent weeks. He has
condemned hostage-taking by
Islamic fundamentalists in
Lebanon; he has scaled down
his support for terrorism,
most notably by expelling the
Abu Nidal radicals from
Syria and suspending attacks
against Jordanian diplomats;
and he has shown signs that
he might switch sides in the
Gulf War.
But the West's tentative
rapprochement with Syria
has less to do with ideological
preference — Assad has yet to
enshrine the values of
Western democracy in his
constitution — than with a
recognition of hard-nosed
political realities.
The Americans, and some
Europeans, says an Israeli
source, "know that Assad has
never once altered a basic
strategic policy. He does make
tactical maneuvers, however,
and the Americans are trying
to take advantage of this.
That's fine, just so long as
they don't slip into wishful
thinking and imagine they
can manipulate Assad. He is
an astute and formidable op-
ponent."
Western leaders are spurred
on by an extraordinary con-
fluence of interests that has
emerged between the Soviet
Union, the United States and
Europe over Middle East
issues. Moreover, it has
become increasingly evident
that the road to resolving the
major Middle East problems
of the moment runs through
downtown Damascus.
• The first item on this joint
agenda is a newfound deter-
mination to bring the seven-
year-old Gulf War to an end.
The key to ending the conflict
is Iranian acquiescence in a
political settlement, and
Assad is the only Arab leader
to support non Arab Iran.
• Second is the question of
Syrian-sponsored interna-
tional terrorism, a matter of
acute embarrassment to the
Soviet Union and of deep
anguish to the West.
• Third is the perceived
ability of Syria to control the
Islamic fundamentalists in
Lebanon and to win the
release of Western hostages
who are being held in Beirut.
• And fourth — the longest
shot of all — is the proposed
Middle East peace conference.
Assad is a key player in the
Arab-Israeli dispute and his
support is indispensable, but
the entire endeavour has
been rendered moot not only
by Israeli reluctance to talk to
Palestinians but also by
Syrian reluctance to talk to
Israel.
Is Assad willing and able to
deliver on any of these issues?
The short answer is that, in
the final analysis, he will
prove to be less willing than
he is able.
He could switch sides in the
Gulf War, thereby helping to
propel Iran to the negotiating
table, but he probably- will
not. At present, the Syrian
leader enjoys a pivotal
political role as the conduit
between Iran and much of the
rest of the world. By breaking
his alliance with Iran, he
might be compensated for the
subsidized oil and other
material benefits he current-
ly receives from Teheran, but
nothing the West or anyone
else can offer could replace
the political muscle he now
enjoys as go-between with the
mullahs.
By the same token, he could
turn his face against sponsor-
ship of international ter-
rorism, and again he has
hinted, through the expulsion