Word: assads
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...good will is strikingly absent from this gathering. Fourteen years ago, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat made Israelis believe that his attitude toward them had changed by flying to Jerusalem and shaking hands with Israelis, smiling all the time. In contrast, rumors now fly that Syrian President Hafez al-Assad will refuse to shake Shamir's hand, (in Madrid--forget Jerusalem) and such a refusal is unlikely to evoke sympathy from Shamir, who has promised his electorate that he will not cede real estate for promises of peace...
Syria, however, objected to such talks for fear that Israel would pocket any concessions it made without giving ground toward returning the Golan Heights, seized from Syria in the 1967 war. If President Hafez Assad is really backing out now, the other Arabs might follow suit. But he appeared primarily to be laying down a marker -- no agreement on anything without a return of the Golan -- and building pressure on the U.S. to push Israel...
...unconditional loan guarantees on the peace process. Arabs are convinced that any such guarantees will go toward the settling of Soviet Jews in the occupied territories, whether they are applied directly to that purpose or simply free up other Israeli funds for settlement construction. Syria's President Hafez Assad might refuse to attend the peace conference, taking Jordan and the Palestinians with him. "This is a classic lose-lose proposition," says a senior Administration official. "If the bill provides for guarantees without conditions, we lose the Arabs. If it provides for guarantees with conditions, we lose the Israelis...
Syria, facing the future without its own longtime sponsor, the Soviet Union, also needs friends in the West and has signed on to the U.S. plan for a regional peace conference. President Hafez Assad has apparently decided to move to negotiations in hopes of reclaiming the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. "He can do that a lot more effectively through diplomacy than terrorism," says a Western official...
...Assad undoubtedly realized that he was playing into Israel's hands by hanging back. Shamir had no need to say yes, and Washington had no leverage on Israel's decision until Syria agreed to the conference. Now Assad has focused the pressure on Israel...