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January 7, 2000/29 Tevet 5760, Vol. 52, No.18
High noon in SyriaEditorialThe tug of war over the Golan Heights has all the elements of high drama - dangerous security risks, do-or-die political wagers and enormous economic stakes.Yet the outcome of the new round of peace talks between Israel and Syria - and ultimate resolution of the status of the Golan, an acknowledged strategic high point - has the potential to be a fitting denouement to the last century's intractable conflict in the Middle East. As talks get under way in Shepherdstown, W. Va., pundits suggest that the mood in Israel is vascillating between elation and intense anxiety. The prospect of peace with Syria, and its appealing flipside, no war, is tantalizing. But the trade-off, giving up the high ground on Israel's northern borders, is terrifying. Opponents of full territorial withdrawal from the Golan point to the obvious downside of giving up the comforting buffer between Israel and its hostile neighbors and the wrenching dismantlement of settlements and displacement of some 20,000 Israelis. They worry about Syria's propensity for terrorism, its unstable, undemocratic government, and its crumbling economy. Yet ceding the Golan to Syria in return for ironclad security guarantees would yield needed economic growth and enhanced global stature for Israel. And ignoring Syria's overtures would undermine Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's standing, as well as that of U.S. President Bill Clinton. Barak's keen strategic instincts are evident in the decision to move forward now, when Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, aging and in ill health, is worrying deeply about his successor and his own historic legacy. There is no evidence that Barak has been lulled into a sense of false security by Assad's advances. His actions do not suggest, as one critic sarcastically wrote, that Assad is a sweetheart, the Syrians darlings and Damascus wonderful. Ever the pragmatist, Barak clearly realizes that it's high noon in Syria, and that the ultimate pinnacle for securing Israel's future is peace, not the Golan. It's time to go for the high ground. |
