Word: baraker
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Those questions also seem to be haunting Assad Sr. Although he is anxious not to appear in haste, many diplomats are convinced that Assad is determined not to miss the new opportunity for talks that arose with the election of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in May. In Syria's earlier rounds of negotiations, Assad moved cautiously, only to react bitterly to the deadlock that followed the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the subsequent defeat of Rabin's moderate successor Shimon Peres by hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu. Assad is also more focused on Syria's inevitable political transition...
...insists that any return has to be gradual, a step-by-step process designed to boost each side's confidence. The Syrians claim that Israel, during Rabin's tenure, agreed to hand back the entire Golan Heights. Damascus now demands that negotations begin with that concession in the bag. Barak's government counters that whatever Rabin offered was hypothetical, and the only way to strike a deal is to resume the bargaining. Syria may eventually agree. "Assad has made a strategic decision for peace," says Uri Savir, who headed Israel's delegation during the previous talks with Syria. Says...
Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak prefers to do things himself ? and usually late at night. So does Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. And so, although Barak sent his foreign mininster, David Levy, to start the historic "final status" peace talks with Palestinian negotiator Abu Mazen on Monday, he raised eyebrows in Israel Friday by holding a secret overnight meeting directly with Arafat to discuss some of those same final status issues. It's not unusual for leaders to intercede when talks between negotiators deadlock, but these talks had only just gotten started ? and Levy first heard of the meeting...
...While Barak's late-night maneuver may have undermined Levy's clout as a negotiator, reaching agreement on the contentious final-status issues may require all of Barak's political authority, and then some. Palestinian sources said the meeting was positive, and had been initiated by Barak to reassure Arafat after the Palestinians objected to comments by the Israeli leader on West Bank settlements and other issues. The Israeli leader has adopted an approach dramatically different to that of his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, seeking to combine concessions to conservative constituencies at home with parallel concessions on other fronts...
Torture may no longer be de rigueur for terror suspects in Israeli hands, but it?ll remain the last resort. Prime Minister Ehud Barak indicated Wednesday that he?ll support legislation to soften a landmark Supreme Court decision outlawing torture by Israel?s security services. Barak doesn?t want the security forces? hands tied when bombs are ticking ? although the Supreme Court indicated it might accept a "ticking bomb" argument in specific cases, such exceptions would be made only after the perpetrators had been brought to trial. "This is an extremely emotional issue for Israel," says TIME Jerusalem bureau chief...