those groups and has advocated outreach
to the Assad regime as a way of crippling
Iran's influence in the region, Makovsky
said. "Unlike the Palestinian issue, where
there is a sense that there is a will but not
necessarily a capacity, they feel in Syria
there is a central authority" to ensure the
success of a peace deal, Makovsky said.
Moreover, Hezbollah's growing
strength in Lebanon, and llamas' persis-
tent rocket attacks from Gaza on south-
ern Israel, has made neutralizing Syrian
support for those groups all the more
urgent for Israel.
But the Bush administration's reti-
cence to embrace Syria-Israel peace talks
has impeded rapprochement, until last
week. The Olmert administration report-
edly sought and received the green light
from the Bush administration for renew-
ing peace talks with Syria.
U.S. support for the process is key.
Aside from the return of the Golan
Heights from Israel, Syria would seek
U.S. support and the opening of Western
doors as a tradeoff for foregoing its alli-
ances with Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas.
A State Department official, speak-
ing on condition of anonymity, said any
Israel-Syria peace deal would require
Syrian concessions in areas of concern
to the United States, including tighter
controls at Syria's border with Iraq and
human rights reforms within Syria.
"It is our hope that discussions
between Israel and Syria will cover all the
relevant issues, including the Syrian gov-
ernment's support for terrorist groups,
facilitation of the passage of foreign
fighters into Iraq and intervention in
Lebanon — as well as repression inside
Syria," the official said.
David Kimche, a former director-
general of Israel's Foreign Ministry, said
negotiations will take a while, likely
stretching beyond Bush's presidency
"These negotiations are not going to
end in a week or a month; it's the begin-
ning of long negotiations:' Kimche said.
"The aim is to bring the Americans in.
This could be the beginning of move-
ment, not just between Israel and Syria,
but between Syria and the United States:'
Kimche discounted suggestions
by some Israeli politicians that the
announcement was timed to distract
the Israeli public from the investigation
into Olmert's financial dealings. Rather,
he said, Israeli and Syrian negotiators
reached the point in the process where
they were able to make the formal
announcement.
For the Israelis; that point was Olmert
agreeing to a full Israeli withdrawal from
the Golan Heights, said Professor Eyal
Zisser, a Syria expert at the Moshe Dayan
Center for Middle East and African
Studies at Tel Aviv University.
"What has changed is the Israeli
position," he said."01mert came to the
conclusion, probably some time ago, that
is in his interest and in Israel's interest to
make peace with Syria, and he is willing
to give something that previous prime
ministers were not. According to the
Syrians, he has committed himself to a
full withdrawal from the Golan Heights."
That point for Syria, Makovsky said,
was a readiness to consider ending its
role as a conduit for arms from Iran to
Hezbollah. "You cannot have a peace deal
with the Israelis and still be a conduit for
weapons:' Makovsky said.
Further down the line, involvement
from the United States and others will
be necessary, he added. "If this is going
to work, you need a lot of players to help
Syria," he said. "It's not just a local agree-
ment:'
❑
JTA Managing Editor Uriel Heilman contrib-
uted to this report.
Answering
Israel's Crit ics
The Charge
Although this past November marked the 60th anniversary of the United
Nations decision to partition Palestine into two states — one Jewish and one
Arab, creating the nation of Israel — since then most U.N. resolutions have been
biased against the Jewish state and unhelpful to the Mideast peace process.
The Answer
In answer to the U.N:s decades of bias, in 2002 former U.S. Ambassador to the
United Nations John Negroponte stated that it was American policy to denounce
all U.N. resolutions that criticized Israel without also condemning "terrorist
groups:' This statement is now known as the Negroponte doctrine.
- Allan Gale, Jewish Community Relations Council
of Metropolitan Detroit
(c) Jewish Renaissance Media, May 29, 2008
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