Clinton's Bucket of Cold Water
In an
editorial Friday, the Jerusalem Post found encouragement in Syrian Foreign Minister
Farouk Shara's speech at the White House Wednesday, despite his frostiness and
his unexpected refusal to shake the Israeli prime minister's hand. What the
world saw, it said, was "a continuation of the coldest shoulder of the Middle
East, that of Syria toward Israel." But his words revealed welcome changes in
Syria's approach to peace. The most significant of these was his statement that
the Syria-Israel conflict was about borders and not about Israel's right to
exist. "The words 'border conflict,' combined with the concept of peace based
upon 'international legitimacy'--a phrase Shara used twice--signifies a shift
in conception that Israel has been seeking since the day of its birth," the
Post said. Shara also implied that a peace settlement might be a boon,
as opposed to a setback, for Arab unity, and he gave a broader than expected
description of what peace might be like. He spoke of a peace that would "open
new horizons for totally new relations between peoples" and of "honorable
competition in various domains--the political, cultural, scientific, and
economic." This, the Post said, suggested "a peace much broader and
deeper than the exchange of ambassadors and other formalities."
The
Jerusalem Post 's lead Friday was a reported promise by Shara not to allow
"any element in Lebanon to disrupt the peace process," which was described by a
senior Israeli official as the first clear indication that Syria is willing to
rein in Hezbollah terrorists. In its main
story from Washington Friday, Ha'aretz
said Syria has called on the United States to remove Syria immediately from its
list of regimes that sponsor terrorism. The paper said that, while the United
States is demanding that Syria take action against Hezbollah first, "there are
signs of Syrian crackdowns on terror groups currently based in Syria, as well
as Hezbollah." It also reported that, if Israel is satisfied with the progress
of the peace negotiations due to begin Jan. 3, "Jewish organizations in the
U.S. would become involved in the lobbying effort to get Syria removed from the
list, clearing the way for Congressional-backed aid to Damascus."
In an
editorial, Ha'aretz said it is "clear that the
negotiations have already reached an advanced stage" and that "[w]ith good will
on both sides everything is resolvable." But it said there is still the problem
of the Jewish settlements on the Golan Heights, which Israel would return to
Syria in a peace settlement. "The residents of the Golan were sent to build
their homes opposite Syria with the concurrence of every government since 1967,
and the roots they struck in the basalt soil are deeper than those of the
settlers in Judea and Samaria," the paper said. But it concluded that they will
have to go, because "peace under reasonable conditions is more important than
the desire to ease the pain of the settlers who are evacuated from their
homes." Another article in Ha'aretz Friday called for understanding
by the Israelis of Syria's difficult task of preparing Syrian public opinion
for peace with Israel. If the settlement goes ahead, Syria "will be required
within months to present the Syrian public with new facts completely contrary
to the ideology preached to them for decades," it said.
Al-Baath , the daily paper of Syria's ruling party, said Thursday that
Syria wouldn't give up "a grain of its soil or a drop of its water" in its
negotiations with Israel. "Syria fought honorably and it is now negotiating
honorably," the paper said. "It is doing all it can to attain an honorable
peace which safeguards rights, dignity, and sovereignty. That is the only peace
acceptable to our people, and that is the peace that will prove viable and
stand the test of time." The Pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi urged Syria
to consider the implications of Shara's vision of scientific, economic, and
cultural competition with Israel. "One cannot engage in this competition
without swiftly adopting and applying its ABC, starting with democracy, freedom
to engage in political activity, freedom of expression, and economic
liberalization," the paper said. "Syria cannot compete with Israel in
technology when access to the Internet is restricted to the children of senior
officials, and the use of a mobile phone must be cleared by the intelligence
services."
Al-Quds al-Arabi was one of several Arab papers skeptical about the
Israeli-Syrian rapprochement. Disputing Shara's statement that a peace
agreement would mean "the end of a history of wars and conflicts," it noted
that he failed to say a word about the future of Jerusalem and the
Palestinians, and it added: "An end to the state of war between Arab
governments and Israel does not mean an end to the state of war between the
Arab people and the Jewish state. This is because the Arab governments signing
up to peace were not democratically elected, nor did they conduct referendums
on their peace moves."
The Pan-Arab
al-Hayat said the Palestinians had been wrong to believe that they could
negotiate on their own with Israel. They had only themselves to blame for the
fact that their peace negotiations were stalled, while Syria's were picking up
again. The semi-official Cairo newspaper al-Ahram said that Bill
Clinton's coup in getting the Syrians and Israelis together was "a cruel blow
to the candidates--whether Democrat or Republican--fighting to succeed him."
Clinton wanted "to pour a bucket of freezing cold water" on the hopes of his
potential successors, Al Gore and George W. Bush, who both want him to fail.
"They want the kudos for themselves, especially since they have both already
made promises in advance to the Israelis and the American Jewish lobby in order
to secure support in the presidential election."
