I I World S y ria Divide McCain, Obama take opposite tacks on Syria and P.A; agree on Iran. Ron Kampeas Jewish Telegraphic Agency Leesburg, Va. A McCain administration would discourage Israeli-Syrian peace talks and refrain from actively engaging in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. That was the collective message deliv- ered last week by two McCain advis- ers — Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Richard Williamson, the Bush administration's special envoy to Sudan — during a retreat hosted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy at the Lansdowne Resort in rural Virginia. One of Barack Obama's representatives — Richard Danzig, a Clinton admin- istration Navy secretary — said the Democratic presidential candidate would take the opposite approach on both issues. In an interview with the Atlantic magazine over the summer, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., insisted that in his presi- dency he would serve as the chief negotia- tor in the peace process. But at the retreat, Boot said pursuing an Israeli-Palestinian deal would not be a top priority in a McCain administration, adding that as many as 30 crises across the globe require more urgent attention. The McCain adviser called the Bush administration's renewed efforts to pro- mote Israeli-Palestinian talks a mistake. He also cast American engagement with Syria as potentially betraying the stake that the United States has invested in Lebanon's fragile democracy. Boot said the decision over whether to relinquish the Golan Heights was Israel's to make, but added, "John McCain is not going to betray the lawfully elected gov- ernment of Lebanon!' In an interview with JTA, Boot said he was skeptical that Israel's current talks with Syria would succeed in peeling the country away from Iran's sphere of influence. Williamson said it is not the job of the United States to dictate policy to Israel when it comes to Syria, but added that a McCain administration would look to per- suade officials in Jerusalem. "Israel should not be dictated to in deal- ing with Syria or dealing with Lebanon:' A40 October 2 d 2008 he said, addressing Israeli and some pro- Israel resentment in recent years at pres- sure by the Bush administration to stifle such negotiations. "Hopefully as friends they will listen to us:' That Williamson was endorsing such views at all signified how closely the McCain campaign has allied itself with neo-conservatives. A veteran of the Reagan and first Bush administrations, Williamson in other circumstances would be more closely identified with Republican "realists" who have vociferously eschewed the grand claims of neo-conservatives to a new American empire. Yet here he was echoing their talking points on several fronts. Shifting Sands McCain, until the last year or so, has kept feet in both the realist and neo- conservative camps. The session at Lansdowne appeared to suggest that the Republican presidential nominee has chosen sides, opting for policies backed by the outgoing Bush administration and its neo-conservative foreign policy architects. Both McCain advisers insisted, how- ever, that their candidate was synthesiz- ing the two camps as a "realistic ideal- ist." McCain would be a "leader who will press for more liberal democratic change " and "is realistic about the pros- pects of diplomacy and just as impor- tantly its limits:' said Boot, echoing what has become the twin walking and talking points of neo-conservatism: a muscular foreign policy and an affinity for promoting democracy. Surrogates for Obama, the Illinois Democrat, re-emphasized their com- mitment to stepping up U.S. diplomatic efforts. Danzig said an Obama adminis- tration would revive the idea of a special envoy for pursuing a peace deal. The "appropriate level of presidential engagement requires that the United States designate someone whose ener- gies are predominantly allocated to this," Danzig said. Someone like Tony Blair, the former British prime minister now leading efforts to build a Palestinian civil society, might fit the bill, he added. Syria Divide on page A42 Israel - Syria Relations New York/JTA - The following is a timeline of key events in Israel-Syria rela- tions from 1947 to the present: November 1947 - Syria opposes the U.N. General Assembly's partition plan envisioning Jewish and Palestinian states existing side by side. May 1948 - Syrian and other Arab armies invade when the State of Israel is proclaimed. July 1949 - Israel and Syria sign armistice agreement, but sporadic hostilities continue. 1951-1956 - Syria and other Arab states provide financial aid and refuge to Palestinian terrorist groups, or fedayeen, which launch repeated raids on Israeli targets. June 1967 - Israel captures the Golan Heights from Syria during the Six-Day War. October 1970 - Hafez Assad launches a coup and seizes control of Syria. October 1973 - Syria is stymied trying to recapture the Golan in Yom Kippur War. May 1974 - After months of Syria-Israel clashes following the Yom Kippur War, the two sides agree to a cease-fire mediated by U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. A U.N. observer force takes up position in a buffer zone on the Golan. December 1981 - Israel unilaterally annexes the Golan, though the move is not internationally recognized. October 1991 - Israel and Syria attend the U.S.-brokered Madrid conference aimed at achieving a comprehensive Middle East peace but fail to reach an accord. July 1992 - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin vows to accelerate peace moves with Israel's Arab neighbors. 1993-1994 - Israel-Syria negotiations become stuck on the scope of Golan territory to be returned to Syria. U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher shuttles between Jerusalem and Damascus in an attempt to advance talks. June 1995 - Israeli and Syrian military negotiators meet in Washington. December 1995-February 1996 - Israeli and Syrian delegations hold a series of talks at the Wye Plantation in Maryland. March 1996 - Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres suspends Israel-Syria nego- tiations when Assad fails to condemn a series of Hamas terrorist attacks in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. May-June 1999 - Ehud Barak, a former negotiator in Israel-Syria talks, is elected Israeli prime minister, and President Assad praises him as a "strong and honest" leader who wants peace with Syria. July 1999 - Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discloses that he had indirect contacts with Assad during his three years in office. He says no agreement was reached because Israel refused to accede to Syria's demand for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan. Dec. 8, 1999 - After U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright holds separate meetings with Assad and Barak, U.S. President Bill Clinton announces that Israel and Syria have agreed to resume peace talks. December 1999 - Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa meet for the highest-level talks ever between the two countries. January 2000 - U.S.-brokered Israel-Syria peace talks in West Virginia col- lapse over the scope of Golan's return and water access rights to the Kinneret. June 10, 2000 - Assad dies and is succeeded by his son, Bashar. February 2007 - Olmert meets with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey and lays the groundwork for a Turkish role in mediating with Syria. Sept. 6, 2007 - Israeli warplanes bomb a suspected nuclear site in Syria. May 21, 2008 - Israel and Syria announce they are holding indirect peace talks via Turkish mediation.