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It's not just about manners By Akiva Eldar Tags: Israel, Bashar Assad  In less than four weeks, Air Force One will once again land at Ben-Gurion International Airport. When George W. Bush, the 43rd American president, concludes his Independence Day visit, President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will bid him farewell at the airport. If nothing particularly surprising happens at the very last moment, his plane will once again skip over Damascus. This time, too, Bush will support the boycott against Hamas. This week, the 39th president of the United States took off from Ben-Gurion at the end of a diplomatic work visit to the Middle East. Not a single senior official waved good-bye to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Jimmy Carter, who was instrumental in bringing about the peace with Egypt and the 1979 Camp David Accords, climbed up the ramp of the plane, cries of derision from Israeli politicians echoing in his ears. On the day of his departure, the front page of the daily Yedioth Ahronoth published the picture of 3-year-old Amir Arad from Kibbutz Gevim, who was wounded by Qassam fragments. Next to it, in large letters, was the headline: "Carter, look him in the eye." The paper took the view that he violated the boycott against Hamas and tried to persuade the movement's leader, Khaled Meshal, to put an end to the rocket fire on Gevim, Sderot and Kerem Shalom. The uproar surrounding "the legitimization of terror" left no room for a report about the messages Carter's small entourage brought from Damascus. His talks with the Syrian leadership preceded the item from the Syrian news agency stating that Ehud Olmert is willing to give up the Golan Heights in exchange for peace with Syria. The Prime Minister's Office remarked two days ago that Israel's position is known and has not changed. Advertisement The profile of Syrian President Bashar Assad - as portrayed in reports Carter and his people gave those Israelis who "violated" the boycott against them - differs from the common image in the West. This is not the first time Carter is visiting Syria, nor is it the first time he has tried to convince colleagues in Israel that everything is not black in Damascus. Carter and his entourage had the impression that Assad, Jr. is a serious and knowledgeable person, who is familiar with all the details of the negotiations his father held with generations of Israeli prime ministers. Bashar is even willing to go one step further: If Israel undertakes a basic commitment to the U.S. to withdraw to the borders of June 4, 1967, he will agree to meet with Olmert in a neutral place and discuss the rest of the details with him, including the pace of withdrawal from the Golan, the extent of demilitarization and normalization. It is possible that Assad is gambling on an Israeli refusal in order to create a moderate profile for himself. And it is, of course, possible that he is taking every possible step to reduce international pressure surrounding accusations that he played a part in the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, and concerning nuclear cooperation with North Korea in the construction of an atomic reactor in northeast Syria. The American guests understood that Assad does not insist on postponing the signing of a peace treaty with Israel until an agreement is reached with the Palestinians. And he believes that with a little effort and courage, such a treaty can even be completed during Bush's term. MK Yossi Beilin of Meretz, who heard about the Syrian leader's views from Carter, says they constitute an important change in the position adopted by his country in the wake of the intifada. To spare Olmert coalition problems, Assad is willing to keep the "deposit" of the Golan in the safe and not to say a word about it. On the other hand, discussion of the issue of Syria's relations with Hamas and Hezbollah will have to await the end of negotiations. Carter did not elaborate about Iran. Assad was satisfied with dropping a hint that in spite of the fact that he has no plan to sever the umbilical cord connecting the Syrian army's stockpiles to Tehran, it is natural that opening the gates of the West in general, and of the U.S. in particular, will weaken the Shi'ite country's influence on the Alawite regime. Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, who conducted the negotiations with Israel during the tenure of Assad, Sr., shared a considerable amount of these details with Carter. Muallem emphasized that under no circumstances would Syria give up access to the northeastern shore of Lake Kinneret. Steven Solarz, a former U.S. congressman who accompanied Carter, tried to understand Syria's stance on the use of the Kinneret's waters. According to Muallem, Syria is willing to give up the precious resource under three conditions: receipt of a regular supply of water from Turkey (he expressed a hope that the prime minister in Ankara would be more sympathetic to the idea than his predecessor); of resources to build desalination plants; and of a guarantee of water to the Syrian farmers on the Golan Heights. Beilin reminded Solarz that during all the negotiation stages, Syria refrained from demanding use of the waters of the Kinneret, and that the water issue has always focused on the sources of the Jordan River. Google plane Carter traveled to the capitals of the Middle East on the Google executive plane. Decades before the scandal aroused by the title of his book, "Palestine: Peace not Apartheid," Carter succeeded in arousing the anger of Israeli politicians. In October 1977, he upset foreign minister Moshe Dayan when he ordered the White House spokeswoman to publish a declaration that included recognition of the legitimate rights of the Palestinians. Dayan replied: "Mr. President, I may only have one eye, but I'm not blind." When Carter meets with ordinary citizens, he is reminiscent of Bill Clinton. In Sderot he approached a woman who was hurling invectives at him, patted her shoulder and calmed her with pleasant words. In Damascus he asked Meshal to arrange a meeting with the Hamas leader's parents, who live in his fortified compound. Dr. Robert Pastor, senior adviser to the Carter Center, has worked with President Carter since the 1970s: "Thirty-four years ago, when Jimmy Carter ran for president, people asked, 'Jimmy who?' He was unknown nationally. The party elite did not pay much attention to him, and so he focused on the people. It was natural for him to do the same in Israel when the government decided to avoid him. He met with the people in Sderot. He spoke with young high-tech entrepreneurs. He is meeting with business leaders and community activists, and the parents of Gilad Shalit met with him as well. While it's unfortunate that the Israeli government declined to brief him or exchange ideas because they thought he might not agree with them, it is clear that the Israeli people are open to a dialogue with president Carter." Even if one puts aside the issue of manners and ingratitude, Pastor says that up-to-date information about contacts concerning the release of Shalit would have helped Carter get more from Meshal than a promise of a letter from the captive soldier. Some see the impressions gained by Carter and his people during their Middle East trip, particularly those gleaned from Damascus, as a gold mine for those who determine policy and make assessments. Researchers from Israel's Foreign Ministry and the intelligence community usually pounce on any diplomat who had coffee with a minor Syrian adviser. Pastor cannot recall any incident in which an entire establishment has forsaken the rare opportunity to receive a firsthand briefing about such major issues on the national agenda. The fact that Labor ministers avoided meeting with the man who contributed more to peace than any one of them reflects the state of the party. Its ministers are not taking an interest in the shaky negotiations between Olmert and Palestinians negotiators Abu Mazen (PA President Mahmoud Abbas) and Abu Ala (Ahmed Qureia). Even the media rumors about contacts with Syria are being ignored. Defense Minister Ehud Barak outdid everyone. He informed the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv that he would be happy to meet with the former president, and at the last moment, when Carter was already in Jerusalem, "schedule constraints" obliged him to cancel the meeting. Pollard vs. settlements The former president told an American journalist that he is convinced that the pressure in Israel to boycott him did not come from the office of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She was informed ahead of time of all the trip's details, including the meeting with Meshal. Until he landed in Damascus, she did not express any reservations. Carter's people pointed a finger at Elliott Abrams, who was among those who in early 2006 rejected the pleas of Abbas and then-prime minister Ariel Sharon to postpone the elections in the territories for fear of a Hamas victory. France's Le Figaro reported several weeks ago that Abrams told a European diplomat that the U.S. would not intervene in the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, and would allow them to continue until the end of 2008. However, he added, if by then Israel informs us that it is not willing to accept a single refugee and that East Jerusalem is part of the State of Israel, the administration will go along with that. Solarz joked with Jordan's King Abdullah that in a scheduled meeting this week with Bush, he should suggest to the president to include Abrams in a package deal for an exchange of prisoners. That was after Shas' leader, Minister Eli Yishai, asked Carter to help in the efforts to release Jonathan Pollard (who was convicted of spying for Israel), and before the publication of the Ben-Ami Kadish affair. Solarz told Yishai that in order to overcome the intelligence establishment's opposition, it will not be enough for Bush to claim rachmones (compassion). The Shas chair did not smile when the visitor suggested that in exchange for Pollard's release, Israel should promise not to build even a single wall beyond the Green Line. David Glass, an associate of Shas' spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, participated in the second meeting between Yishai and Carter. Glass has recently opened secret channels between Shas, the Palestinians and international actors, who are trying, like Carter, to fill the vacuum left in the arena by the U.S. and the other members of the Middle East Quartet (the U.S., Russia, the EU and the UN) since the Hamas victory. As far as Syria is concerned, Glass believes that Rabbi Yosef will not be the obstacle to peace in exchange for the Golan. According to Glass, Rabbi Yosef encouraged Yishai to ask Carter to organize a meeting between him and the Hamas leaders, in order to promote Shalit's release. Carter told Shas that Meshal said that at a later stage, when conditions are ripe, it will be possible to consider a meeting between clerics seeking to help achieve a long-term cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians. This response, like the rest of Meshal's behavior, reminded Carter of his former contacts with the Soviet Union. Whenever Carter pressured to receive an immediate reply to his proposal about a cease-fire, the No. 1 politician would shrug his shoulders. "I can't answer at the moment," he would say, "I don't decide alone. I have to bring the proposal up for discussion in our Politburo." Meshal said that Hamas cannot decide alone either, and that he has to receive the consent of the other organizations. For example, Islamic Jihad. Carter returned home with a serious fear that soon we will be longing for Hamas. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Hamas on the Holocaust Al-Aqsa TV claims Jews concocted the Holocaust. Grasping genocide How a non-Jew in Israel came to understand the Holocaust.   1.   Great. 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