Word: barak
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...resolved, not only on the boundary line but also on the timing of the Israeli withdrawal, plus the peace and security guarantees Syria would offer in return. Moreover, the Palestinians fear that their more complicated negotiations, in which Albright made little headway last week, will take a backseat while Barak cuts a deal with Assad. "Success is not inevitable," Clinton warned. But at least there was a glimmer of hope...
Realizing that Barak wouldn't budge, Assad pivoted and agreed that the boundary line would be an item of negotiation, not a precondition. Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin predicted that a peace treaty could be signed in "a matter of months...
...long-stalled Israeli-Syrian peace track, this counted as a major breakthrough and one that three men--Assad, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and President Bill Clinton--were eager to exploit. The ailing Assad, 69, seems eager to seize this chance to get back the Golan Heights, which Israel appropriated in the 1967 Six-Day War. Barak came to power pledging to entice Syria back to the negotiating table. And Clinton, who quickly arranged for Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shara to start the talks in Washington this week, was hungry for a foreign policy triumph after the disastrous...
...past three months, Washington--mostly in the persons of Ross and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger--has been acting as a secret go-between for Barak and Assad, working to restart the Golan Heights talks, which broke off four months after the 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. But until last week, Assad had refused to come to the table unless Barak first agreed to a promise the Syrian leader claims Rabin made: to withdraw Israeli forces to the line separating the armies of the two countries just before the Six-Day War. That line would put Syria...
...buildup. Israel will therefore insist on demilitarization and extensive monitoring as a precodition for withdrawal. Despite security fears, peace with Syria would mean that all of Israel's immediate Arab neighbors recognize the 51-year-old Jewish state as a permanent reality, and that remains an enticing prospect for Barak - to be pursued with urgency before the ailing Assad leaves the scene, potentially complicating any peace moves. Right now, Israeli opposition to ceding the Golan actually suits Barak's negotiating strategy by emphasizing the difficulty of Israel's concessions. "Polls may show Israelis divided over handing over the Golan...