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Time for generosity with Syria By Ari Shavit Tags: Bashar Assad  According to foreign sources, it was Israel that attacked a strategic facility in eastern Syria on September 6, 2007. According to foreign sources, it can be assumed that it was Israel that assassinated an arch-terrorist in Damascus on February 12, 2008. These two operations, both carried out on Syrian soil, have a great deal in common. They demonstrate excellent intelligence expertise, superb operational capability and policy sophistication. Since both of them focused on targets that embarrass Bashar Assad, they badly batter the Syrian president without him being able to react. Within half a year, Assad was humiliated twice. Jerusalem smiled, Damascus gritted its teeth. After the failure in the summer of 2006, Israel is perceived as choosing the arenas convenient for it and areas in which it has the upper hand for flaunting its strength. In this way it seemingly restored something of the deterrence that was eroded by its failed management of the Second Lebanon War. In the 1960s, Israel had a smart prime minister. In response to repeated Syrian shelling on the northern border, Levi Eshkol said that "the notebook is open and the hand is writing." Is Assad weak or is he smart? Has he accepted Israel's clear supremacy or is he waiting for the opportunity to settle accounts and balance what's written in the notebook? Advertisement No one knows the answer. The young Syrian president is a complex and unpredictable person. On the one hand, he is drawn to the provocative boldness of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. On the other, he is fearful for the future of his regime. On the one hand, he takes big risks to challenge Israel. On the other, he behaves with utmost caution at critical moments. Assad is not Ehud Olmert-Amir Peretz-Dan Halutz. He does not shoot from the hip and does not react hastily to provocations. So it is difficult to gauge when he will snap. There is no way of knowing when Israel's use of brute force will not deter him but induce him to support, directly or indirectly, a counteraction of brute force. There is no way to know, but action must be taken. For the past eight years, Israel has not taken a genuine diplomatic step regarding Syria. Emissaries have come and gone, trial balloons have been floated, but a firm decision to extend a hand to Damascus has not been made. Why? Because an unwise U.S. administration encouraged irresponsible Israeli governments to turn their back on the Syrians. Because the local peace lobby preferred virtual negotiations with a virtual Palestinian Authority instead of a concrete attempt to find out whether we can reach a true settlement with our northern neighbor. Peace with Syria is not an enthusiastic prospect. It will neither vanquish settlers nor heal guilt feelings. It will bring the Syrians close to Lake Kinneret and cost us bed-and-breakfasts, fine wineries and cherished holiday sites. But peace with Syria will divorce Nasrallah from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, isolate Iran and surround Israel with a ring of cold but stable peace arrangements. In a gradually darkening Middle East, peace with Syria might light a torch of hope and create a meaningful strategic turning point. If there is any truth in the foreign reports, the military operations in Syria were essential and justified, but their final test is still ahead. It is not certain that an attempt to arrive at peace with Assad will be successful. But the diplomatic paralysis is dangerous, and locking the gates is a serious mistake. Those who chose to live in the Middle East must always balance power with generosity. The time for generosity has arrived. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Auschwitz gimmick U.K. Tory chief draws fire for calling school visits to Auschwitz a gimmick. 5 Stops in Galilee Rock hares, peach orchards, a taste of the past, and walking the Jesus trail.   1.   The Golan is Not "Just Real Estate" 07:39  |  Ben Israel 22/02/08   2.   Time for generosity to Israel`s next generation 09:22  |  Burned Liberal 22/02/08   3.   Shavit - I Thought He, Finally, Wised Up - I Guess Not 10:04  |  Tod Zuckerman 22/02/08   4.   SHE IS SITTING ON A TIME BOMB 11:26  |  indrajaya 22/02/08   5.   SYRIA THE LAND OF PROPHETS AND CUSCUS, ASAD BE GOOD! 11:32  |  ATİLLA KARAGÖZOĞLU 22/02/08   6.   the bottom line is this 12:04  |  hebrews 22/02/08   7.   No peace arrangement with Syria needed as long .. 12:19  |  Karl 22/02/08   8.   End the occupation 12:21  |  pal 22/02/08   9.   Israel has nothing Syria wants except the Golan 12:37  |  Natallie Durson 22/02/08   10.   Indra, the more you post the heavier earthquakes and floods in 12:42  |  Karl 22/02/08   11.   There is much more in it for Israel 13:22  |  Velvl Shmerlson 22/02/08   12.   GENEROSITY? But Golan is Syrian land 13:41  |  TripleJump 22/02/08   13.   Did the author had a talk wth Tosefta? 13:42  |  Mark B. 22/02/08   14.   What`s in it for Assad? 14:05  |  David Hoffman 22/02/08   15.   Israel is committed - to the water there 14:54  |  H50 22/02/08   16.   # 7 pal of LA...yesterday the Syrian Army 15:06  |  Lynn 22/02/08   17.   # 8 Durson....before ou make prophecies 15:10  |  Lynn 22/02/08   18.   #12 Mark B. you are right/ Shavit must have consulted Tosefta 15:42  |  Dorothy 22/02/08   19.   Time for Shavit to show generosity to his LandforPiss Victims 16:01  |  Feiglin for PM 22/02/08   20.   #11 prove it triple jump its all about 16:34  |  v hardman 22/02/08   21.   Faulty and shallow assumptions 17:06  |  Danite 22/02/08   22.   There are ways and ways 17:09  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 22/02/08   23.   The Druze of Golan Hts 17:40  |  Druze Warrior 22/02/08   24.   ... WOW!!! .. where do you get these "experts"?! 17:44  |  felix 22/02/08   25.   generosity for syria 18:02  |  elliot 22/02/08   26.   What has Syria EVER done for this `generosity`? 18:38  |  Gee 22/02/08   27.   pal, that is incorrect 18:51  |  Bernie 22/02/08   28.   Mr Ari Shavit, very good article 18:57  |  Arik 22/02/08   29.   Shavit is suggesting another Gaza 19:12  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 22/02/08   30.   Pal you stole our soldier, returning him would be generosity 19:16  |  Jasmine 22/02/08   31.   # 18 Margie in Tel Aviv 19:31  |  tbora 22/02/08   32.   Unfortunately, we have to wait for Bush`s departure 19:51  |  Tosefta 22/02/08   33.   Fake Pakistan with stolen lands of Pashtun, Tajik, Indian,Baluchi 20:10  |  Genuine Tosefta 22/02/08   34.   the author 20:37  |  english jew 22/02/08   35.   Damascus is the terror capital in the world 21:32  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 22/02/08   36.   The Syrians deserve plenty of snow in winter 23:35  |  Murray of Montreal 22/02/08

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