In comments directed to the Israeli government by way of i24NEWS, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack urged Israel to take advantage of the current opportunity and make a deal with the Syrian government.
Barrack said that Syria understands that their future depends on reaching a security agreement with Israel, while cautioning Israel that “you cannot fight and attack every country that surrounds you.”
That’s certainly not the way Israel has been playing things, and for years they’ve talked about fighting wars on seven different fronts. The current government’s policy is not to wind any of those wars down, and indeed seemingly to ignore the ceasefires they reach and continue attacking.
It is that policy that has many doubtful about the prospects of Israel-Syria talks. Former US Ambassador to Syria Barbara Leaf says Israel’s actions have repeatedly hurt the prospect for peace over the years, and she does not feel a deal could be close while “Israel continues to do things to inspire ugly feelings in the public.”
Israel’s position on the prospect of peace with Syria seems to vary wildly depending on who is speaking. Defense Minister Israel Katz ruled out such a deal entirely, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a deal was possible but only if Syria met major Israeli demands, while Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said a deal was getting farther away, and the Diaspora Minister declared war with Syria “inevitable.”
Israel invaded Syria in December of last year, and has continued to move deeper into the country, though direct talks have nominally been going on since at least April. Though the Syrian position was reportedly the return to the status quo from 1974 to December, of a demilitarized zone between Syria and the occupied Golan Heights, Israel has rejected that proposal, and Netanyahu has demanded a new demilitarized zone be carved out between the old one, which Israel now occupies, and the capital of Damascus.
This demand seems to be one designed to be rejected, and while a deal does seem to have the potential to be made, there are increasing questions about whether one will be, and whether Israel wants a deal, or just the appearance of wanting a deal.
