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More Of The Same
President Clinton's positive spin aside,
Syria's Assad offered little new at their
Geneva summit.
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NISSAN NISSAN NISSAN NISSAN NISSAN.
Let
Your
Words
Do
The
Talking in THE JEWISH NEWS
Call the Jewish News Advertising Dept.
354-6060
here's an uncomfortable
feeling in Israel this week
that in the wake of the
Clinton-Assad summit,
the American and Israeli gov-
ernments are not exactly see-
ing eye to eye.
"No one in the United States
expects Rabin to come out now
and say 'full withdrawal,' but
it's important that there's recog-
nition of a positive change in As-
sad's statements," said one of
American official who flew in
from Geneva to brief Israeli
leaders.
But the Israeli response to
their clarifications of what had
been said — and not said — at
the Clinton-Assad meeting re-
mained conspicuously cool. Be-
hind closed doors, a senior
military official explained, in de-
tail, that what Hafez Assad had
sold Bill Clinton was effective-
ly recycled goods.
President Ezer Weizman
complained that "Assad hasn't
done one-quarter of what Sadat
did" — a reference to the Syri-
an's "purse-lipped declaration"
that he was prepared for a
peace with Israel, but his un-
willingness to spell out what he
meant by "normalization." (It
was President Bill Clinton, not
Mr. Assad, who made specific
reference to diplomatic rela-
tions, open borders, and the like
at their post-meeting news con-
ference.) The most that official
Israel was willing to concede
about Mr. Assad's presentation
was that it was "a step up" from
his previous declarations, but
hardly deserving of the "excite-
ment" expressed by the Amer-
icans.
The good news the Ameri-
cans brought from Geneva was
that Mr. Assad feels time is
working against him, and the
region, and is, therefore, eager
to wrap up a deal with Israel
this year. He has also softened
somewhat on the future securi-
ty arrangements on the Golan
Heights, speaking of balanced"
arrangements (which would
presumably take into account
the strategic advantage Syria
would gain by obtaining the
high ground) rather than strict-
ly "reciprocal" ones (which im-
plied equidistant demilitarized
zones on both sides of the bor-
der).
But on other focal issues, the
Americans brought less than
satisfying news. Mr. Assad was
mealy-mouthed about re-
straining the actions of the
Hezbollah forces in Lebanon
and ceasing to host the Pales-
tinian rejectionist groups in
Damascus.
On the other hand, he made
it absolutely clear that Syria
would settle for nothing less
The good news is
that Assad
apparently feels
time is working
against him.
than a full Israeli withdrawal
from the Golan. And perhaps
most disappointing of all, he did
not detail precisely what he
means by "normal relations"
with Israel.
The bottom line on this crit-
ical point appears to be that
Syria does grasp what Israel's
demands are regarding the
meaning of peace and normal-
ization and is closer to accept-
ing them.
Or, as Dennis Ross, the U.S.
coordinator for the Middle East
peace talks, told Israeli re-
porters in a rare briefing (which
some officials read as a bid to
reach Israeli public opinion over
the government's head): "I think
there's understanding on the
Syrian side for the manner in
which we define peace and you
define peace."
But what Mr. Assad will not
do is articulate this under-
standing in detail, or in public,
before Israel reveals exactly
what it will give in return. Nor
will he make any gestures, such
as meeting with Prime Minis-
ter Yitzhak Rabin, for the sake
of a "psychological break-
through" that will ease the ne-
gotiations for both sides. He's a
highly suspicious man, not one
to take a leap in the dark or ven-
ture risks without knowing
what he'll get in return.
"Assad is not Sadat," a visit-
ing American official said. "He
doesn't work that way."
All of which left the Israelis
feeling that although Mr. Assad
had been calculatedly stingy,
the United States now expects
Mr. Rabin also to "move up a
step."
But the prime minister was
in no rush to comply. Instead,
he asked the Americans for fur-
ther clarifications of the Syrian
position before forming his own.
He also seems to have opted for
a "what's-good-for-the-goose"
strategy by refraining from any
gesture to Syria and saving his
reply for his own closed meet-
ing with President Clinton (dur-
ing a visit to Washington
scheduled for March).
The one major, albeit inch-
rect, response that Mr. Rabin
did supply to the summit re-
sults was the "bombshell" an-
nouncement (made by Deputy
Defense Minister Mordechai
Gur in the Knesset on Monday)
that if "the territorial price de-
manded of us on the Golan
Heights is significant," the gov-
ernment would submit it to a
referendum.
Just what "significant"
means remains unclear. Nei-
ther did Mr. Gur say when such
a vote would be held (though
presumably it would take place
after a treaty had been con-
cluded with Syria but before it
was ratified). He did say that
the announcement was being
made "with the cognizance of
the government."
But Environment Minister
Yossi Sarid demurred that the
government had never made
any decision on the subject. And
no sooner had the pledge been
announced than it was opposed
across the political spectrum,
not the least on constitutional
grounds. This is no minor mat-
ter, for to hold a referendum the
Knesset must first approve a
law making it binding, and it is
far from definite that such leg-
islation would pass.
But to a large degree, all that
is beside the point. For Mr. Ra-
bin's aim in this startling turn-
about is not to change the rules
of Israeli democracy, but to cre-
ate a carrot and a stick with
which to calm the anti-with-
drawal clamor in Israel long
enough to negotiate a treaty
with Syria. It is also to warn Mr.
Assad that if he insists on a full
withdrawal from the Golan,
he'll have to be more forthcom-
ing with gestures to Israeli pub-
lic opinion, since it is the
"people" that will decide the
matter in the end.
Some movement in that di-
rection may be required sooner
than Mr. Assad was planning.
For the next step in the process
will be to draft a Declaration of
Principles (as early as April, by
the American timetable) estab-
lishing, in broad strokes, "the
relationship of the withdrawal
to peace and security."
Given the difficulties faced
by the Israeli-Syrian talks up
till now, and the slow pace, at
which they have been creeping,
that alone will be no mean
achievement. El