Word: golan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...seek peace with one another. Confrontation with Israel has been the linchpin of Hafez el-Assad's authoritarian regime. Ending the state of war with Israel will deprive Assad of the very prop that legitimates his non-democratic rule. For Israel, peace with Syria means relinquishing the Golan Heights, a strategically vital buffer zone that saved the country during the 1973 War. As a former army chief-of-staff and as Israel's most decorated soldier, no one understands the value of the Golan more than Prime Minster Ehud Barak. Why then are Syria and Israel now so eager...
...from Barak's threat to unilaterally withdraw Israeli forces from Lebanon. For nearly two decades, Syrian-backed guerrillas have bled Israeli troops stationed in south Lebanon. The prospect of pacifying south Lebanon by curbing these guerrillas has 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...
However, if this lofty and perhaps overly optimistic promise of an Israel-friendly Middle East stood as the only reason for Israel to concede the Golan, Barak would not be in Shepherdstown today. Rather, Barak has assessed that security arrangements on the Golan, which could include an early warning station, airborne surveillance and demilitarized zones, are a sufficient substitute for the Golan itself. Perhaps counter-intuitively, Israel calculates that it will become stronger without the Golan. The advanced weapons the U.S. will furnish Israel to "guarantee the peace"--Tomahawk missiles, Apache helicopters and missile defense systems--will endow it with...
...called back to the West Virginia meeting to knock heads together, after Syrian delegates warned that talks could not proceed without discussion on the future borders between the two states. The current talks are premised on the principle that long-term peace will involve Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for cast-iron security guarantees and normalization of relations between the Jewish state and its most intractable foe. But the extent of Israel's withdrawal and the extent of those security guarantees remain key sticking points...
Having dropped its demand that Israel publicly commit to a Golan withdrawal beforethe commencement of any talks, Syria insisted that this be the first item of business. But with one eye on a domestic political base skeptical about retreating from the strategic plateau, Prime Minister Ehud Barak was more interested in making security arrangements the top priority. The U.S.-brokered compromise involved the creation of four commissions that would meet simultaneously to discuss borders, security arrangements, water supplies and normalization of relations. While the commissions on security and normalization have started their work, those looking at borders and water haven...