Word: assad
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...soldier to die there in the past two weeks, despite the heaviest Israeli air raids in four years. Friday's attack further set back U.S. efforts to stop the escalating from derailing the Israel-Syria peace process. "Israel's bombing attacks were a message to Syria's President Hafez Assad, whom the Israelis accuse of fostering the escalation," says TIME Jerusalem correspondent Eric Silver. "That perception is widely shared among ordinary Israelis, and the attacks may have severely weakened Barak's chances of winning his promised referendum on any land-for-peace deal with Syria. The prime minister is rapidly...
...defense hardware that Israel says it needs to feel safe in giving up the Heights. U.S. generals choked when their calculators spit out the cost: $17 billion over 10 years. Then there's the billions Syria will demand for its sickly economy--a key motive behind Syrian President Hafez Assad's willingness to talk peace. "A deal this big is going to carry a price tag," admits State Department spokesman James Rubin...
Less glaring but equally important is Assad's sense of his own mortality. Pushing 70 and in ill health, this past year Assad witnessed the passing of his colleagues King Hassan of Morocco and King Hussein of Jordan. The aged Syrian leader is anxious to make peace in order to consecrate his legacy while he still can. At the same time, before leaving Syria's political stage Assad would like to ensure a smooth succession for his relatively untested son Bashar. Reaching an agreement now will allow his son to organize his regime without the additional headache of contending with...
...been Syria's most effective means of compelling Israel to return the Golan Heights. Barak's repeated commitment to withdraw his troops by July 2000 threatened to deprive Syria of its most powerful point of leverage. Under pressure to act while he still possessed his Lebanon trump card, Assad has opted to cut a deal...
...great paradox here is that Syria wants peace with Israel for reasons that have little to do with Israel, and that Israel wants peace with Syria for reasons that have little to do with Syria. Assad wants peace with Israel so it can improve ties with the U.S. and reap the benefits of Western investment. Israel seeks peace with Syria so that it can normalize relations with other Middle Eastern states and focus its military strategy on Iran. A peace treaty between Israel and Syria will therefore more likely resemble an expedient divorce from war rather than a marriage...