Word: baraker
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Jordan may be Israel's best friend in the Arab world, but King Abdullah was never going to give Ehud Barak a blank check on the future of Jerusalem. The king made a brief visit to the Jewish state Sunday and held low-profile working meetings with Prime Minister Barak and other officials, disappointing Israeli hopes for a high-profile state visit. More alarming for Israel, Abdullah threw down a challenge in an interview with Israeli TV Saturday, urging that Jerusalem be declared an "open city" that could function at once as the capital of the Jewish state...
...back out of an arms deal with China. Israel's Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said Wednesday that his government would go ahead with a deal to supply an advanced airborne surveillance system to Beijing, despite pressure from President Clinton during his Tuesday meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Barak to stop the sale. The Israeli hard line coincides with an historic visit to the Jewish state by China's President Jiang Zemin Wednesday, but also reflects a growing tendency in Israel to define its long-term interests independently of the U.S. rather than to depend exclusively on Washington's good...
...against everyone." That, of course, is not the way U.S. legislators see it, and a threat last week from the House Foreign Aid Committee to deduct the value of the sale from Israel's aid package suggests the White House may face growing domestic pressure to lean on the Barak and his government - not least because China itself lurks as a perennial hot-button domestic issue at election time. Israel can count on strong support in both parties on Capitol Hill when it comes to the peace process, and Republicans were even happy to underwrite former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu...
...would Assad deliberately endanger his opportunity to reclaim the Golan Heights? Some try to explain away Assad's behavior on the grounds that he is an aging autocrat who does not comprehend Barak's political needs as a democratic leader. Assad should be granted more credit. For the past thirty years, the shrewd Syrian leader has defined himself as the Middle East's cold calculator par excellence, and there is no exception here. Assad is well aware of the fact that his actions hinder Barak's ability to muster Israeli public support in a future referendum. The Sphinx of Damascus...
...Assad's avoidance of confidence-building measures has proven a winning bargaining tactic. The more Syrian provocations erode Barak's political capital with Israelis, the more pliable Barak's negotiating position seems to become. To hasten an agreement, in recent weeks Barak has made subtle but significant concessions. He hinted at acquiescing to Syria's incessant demand that Israel withdraw from the Golan Heights down to the June 4, 1967 borders by asserting that previous Israeli prime ministers have conceded the same. Now Barak ponders dropping the demand for a continued Israeli presence on the Mount Hermon early warning station...