Right signals, wrong reading

July.12, 2007

Right signals, wrong reading

WHEN ISRAELIS start expressing "fears" of an impending war, we would better sit up and take note. But what do we do when the source of such expressions of fears is the US?
The ground for such fears have been set in recent months with a flurry of mostly Israel-origin reports that the Syrians were acquiring advanced weapons, mainly from Russia.
To us in the Arab World, the reports are indicative of Syria's fears of an Israel-launched war rather than the Syrians beginning a military conflict with the Jewish state. Damascus is exercising its sovereign right to defend itself by making sure that Israel knows well that it would have to pay a heavy price if it launches military hostilities against Syria.
There are so many reasons for Syria not to go to war, including the fact that Damascus is perfectly aware that the US/Israel combine is waiting for an opportunity to bring about forced regime change in Syria. Surely, Syria is not going to give them the opening that they are looking for.
This time around, US officials and former officials are expressing fear that a confrontation between Syria and Israel may happen this summer. Foremost among them is Dennis Ross, a former senior US Middle East peace negotiator, who was quoted by an Israeli newspaper as saying he thinks "there is a risk of war" between Syria and Israel in the summer. "The Syrians are positioning themselves for war," according to Ross, who wants the Bush administration to "squeeze the Syrian economy" by using "sticks before carrots" in dealing with Damascus.
Let us not go into debating why the US should go after Syria for the sake of Israel. It has become part of life in this part of the world that the US has undertaken not only to defend and protect Israel but also to serve Israeli interests even at the cost of US interests (That is why we have seen the US steadily losing its credibility and getting into disasters after disasters in the Middle East under advice from the pro-Israeli camp in Washington).
Interestingly, the Israeli military does not share Ross's thoughts.
Its deputy chief, Moshe Kaplinsky says that he does not believe a war with Syria is imminent.
While expressing concerns over what he describes as a growing Iranian involvement in promoting regional instability and Syrian involvement in the rearming of Hizbollah following the war in Lebanon, Kaplinksy is also convinced that the Syrian procurement of weapons and intensified military training are part of Syria's defensive measures.
For the moment, let us assume that Kaplinsky means what he says, and Ross and others in Washington are shooting in the dark. And we know that Syria would not be the one to start a war with Israel.
Against the backdrop of all talk of war, Syria have been sending clear messages that it is genuinely interested in peace with Israel; the only problem is that Israel wants peace on its own terms that would be difficult for any self-respecting country to accept, least of all Syria.
Progress was indeed made in Syrian-Israeli peace talks before they were broken off in the late 1990s but secret contacts continued off and on, but it was the US which reportedly forbade Israel from advancing on the secret track.
US President George W. Bush has shown little enthusiasm for an Israeli-Syrian peace track, casting doubt on the chances of progress.
Probably, it is time he had a second thought.
According to the UN's Middle East envoy, Michael Williams, Syria has expressed willingness to change its relationship with Iran, Hizbollah and Hamas if progress were made towards a peace deal with Israel.
The reported Syrian willingness is not contradictory to the stated positions of Damascus since making fair, just and respectable peace with Israel would do away with any necessity to have any questionable relationship.
If Israel and the US have not taken note of Williams' impressions from talks with Syrian leaders in recent months, then it is time for them to do so and take it up from there and snuff out all talk of yet another conflict that the Middle East could ill afford.