Word: syrian
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JERUSLEM: Did Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet secretly with a representative of Syrian President Hafez Assad just before his trip to Washington, D.C. last month? The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that the two men met in early July to discuss the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon. According to Haaretz, Netanyahu offered Assad a deal in which Israeli troops would pull out if Syria guaranteed certain security arrangements along the Israeli-Lebanese border. Netanyahu's government flatly denies that the meeting took place. "It didn't happen," said David Bar Illan, Netanyahu's spokesman. If it did, the Lebanese...
...Netanyahu said himself before Congress, "Peace means the absence of violence." A piece of paper with Yasser Arafat's signed pledge officially guaranteeing Israelis peace very quickly loses all relevance when Syrian- and Iranian-backed Palestinians launch themselves as human missiles in suicide missions. What sort of negotiations can be entered into with individuals that have no respect for their own lives let alone those of the Israelis? As Netanyahu said, "Peace without personal safety is a contradiction in terms.... It is a hoax...
...Address nor in his new government's policy guidelines did Netanyahu pledge to abide by the Oslo peace accords, and Washington is gloomy about the future of Israeli-Palestinian relations. Since Netanyahu has ruled out returning the occupied Golan Heights, the Administration has abandoned hope of achieving an Israeli-Syrian peace treaty, the holy grail of Warren Christopher's Mideast diplomacy. But if the White House is less than delighted, a Republican leader in Congress was recently overheard saying of Netanyahu, "He's one of us." The Israelis have not only elected an American-style leader, it seems, they...
...Washington is worried that Netanyahu could pay a high price if he kisses off meaningful Syrian talks. That peace deal is the prerequisite for snuffing out the Hizballah campaign in Lebanon, where Damascus exerts significant influence over the Shi'ite guerrillas fighting against Israel's occupation. Those Arab enemies already demonstrated the day after his victory that they are not cowed by a Netanyahu government, when they exploded two remote-controlled roadside bombs that killed four Israeli soldiers--a telling reminder that securing Israelis against violence will be just as difficult for the hard-nosed Netanyahu as for his softer...
HAFEZ ASSAD Wily Syrian's hard line comes up empty: might have had Golan back quickly with Labor...