Analysis by Peter Hirschberg
"JERUSALEM, May 26 (IPS) - "Spin" was the chorus that predictably emanated from Israel's parliament when the office of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced last week that Israel and Syria had initiated talks ultimately aimed at reaching a peace agreement. But to reduce the renewal of peace talks between Jerusalem and Damascus, after an eight-year hiatus, to mere "spin" is to underestimate how it currently serves the strategic interests of both countries.
That doesn't mean Olmert didn't benefit from the timing of the announcement, with headlines about talks with Syria nudging aside headlines about a police investigation into suspicions of corruption against the prime minister, regarding large sums of cash he received from a U.S. businessman. But the contacts with Syria began already a year ago, long before Olmert's latest legal woes, and they have the strong backing of many in Israel's defence establishment.
Security officials are convinced that the chances of doing a deal with Damascus are greater than the likelihood of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians. The Syrian track is less complicated. Israel knows what Syria wants: the return of the Golan Heights, the strategic mountain range that Israel captured during the 1967 war. Syria knows what Israel wants: an end to its strategic relationship with Iran, an end to its backing of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, and normal relations.......
But the overriding consideration driving those who support talks with Syria is the desire to pry President Bashar Assad from the clutches of Iran and erode his support for Hezbollah and Hamas. Undermining ties between Damascus and Tehran, they argue, could retard Iran's efforts to achieve nuclear capability.
It could undercut Iran's influence in the region and also significantly lessen the combined missile and rocket threat posed to Israel by Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas. Were Israel ever to attack Iran's nuclear sites -- Israel, like the U.S. and much of Europe, believes Tehran is bent on building nuclear weapons -- defence officials would prefer to have Syria sitting on the sidelines rather than actively involved, along with Hezbollah and Hamas, in a concerted, retaliatory missile attack on the Jewish state......."
"JERUSALEM, May 26 (IPS) - "Spin" was the chorus that predictably emanated from Israel's parliament when the office of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced last week that Israel and Syria had initiated talks ultimately aimed at reaching a peace agreement. But to reduce the renewal of peace talks between Jerusalem and Damascus, after an eight-year hiatus, to mere "spin" is to underestimate how it currently serves the strategic interests of both countries.
That doesn't mean Olmert didn't benefit from the timing of the announcement, with headlines about talks with Syria nudging aside headlines about a police investigation into suspicions of corruption against the prime minister, regarding large sums of cash he received from a U.S. businessman. But the contacts with Syria began already a year ago, long before Olmert's latest legal woes, and they have the strong backing of many in Israel's defence establishment.
Security officials are convinced that the chances of doing a deal with Damascus are greater than the likelihood of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians. The Syrian track is less complicated. Israel knows what Syria wants: the return of the Golan Heights, the strategic mountain range that Israel captured during the 1967 war. Syria knows what Israel wants: an end to its strategic relationship with Iran, an end to its backing of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, and normal relations.......
But the overriding consideration driving those who support talks with Syria is the desire to pry President Bashar Assad from the clutches of Iran and erode his support for Hezbollah and Hamas. Undermining ties between Damascus and Tehran, they argue, could retard Iran's efforts to achieve nuclear capability.
It could undercut Iran's influence in the region and also significantly lessen the combined missile and rocket threat posed to Israel by Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas. Were Israel ever to attack Iran's nuclear sites -- Israel, like the U.S. and much of Europe, believes Tehran is bent on building nuclear weapons -- defence officials would prefer to have Syria sitting on the sidelines rather than actively involved, along with Hezbollah and Hamas, in a concerted, retaliatory missile attack on the Jewish state......."
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