Word: syrian
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...shambles. According to the International Monetary Fund, Syria is more in need of economic reform than any other country in the Mediterranean. Per capita income in Syria is $800, while its GNP is one-seventh the size of Israel's. The World Health Organization estimates that 28 percent of Syrian children suffer from stunted growth--largely a function of malnutrition. Syria needs to make peace because only the financial dividends that come with it can save its economy from collapse...
Less glaring but equally important is Assad's sense of his own mortality. Pushing 70 and in ill health, this past year Assad witnessed the passing of his colleagues King Hassan of Morocco and King Hussein of Jordan. The aged Syrian leader is anxious to make peace in order to consecrate his legacy while he still can. At the same time, before leaving Syria's political stage Assad would like to ensure a smooth succession for his relatively untested son Bashar. Reaching an agreement now will allow his son to organize his regime without the additional headache of contending with...
...final nudge towards ending Syria's state of war with Israel arose 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...
...concessions when it comes to Mideast peace. And the impression that the Israelis are having things all their own way in the Shepherdstown talks has prompted Syria to declare a crisis. President Clinton on Thursday was 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...
...Israel and Syria can't even agree on what issues to disagree on. Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Sharaa on Monday did accomplish the rather difficult feat of completing the first day of talks hosted by President Clinton in Shepherdstown, West Virginia without actually meeting face to face. Although the U.S. has imposed a news blackout to create a more conducive environment for a week of diplomacy, State Department spokesman James Rubin said Monday that the two sides had not yet agreed on the agenda for the talks. Syria wants to begin with territorial issues...