U.S. Senator Arlen Specter is the latest international figure to attempt to broker a peace deal between Israel and its northern neighbor, Syria – but apparently with as little success as prior mediators.
Specter, age 80, has always been a supporter of Israel but has also been open to talks with Syria.
The Pennsylvania Democrat, for years a Republican before switching parties, traveled last week to Damascus following a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who told him that Israel is ready to resume talks without preconditions. Ayalon reiterated previous assurances by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that Israel does not plan to launch attacks on Syria.
The deputy foreign minister also suggested that Specter appeal to Damascus to pressure the Hamas terrorist rulers of Gaza to free kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who has languished in captivity by the group for the past four years. Such a move, said Ayalon, would constitute a significant goodwill gesture with which to jumpstart talks between Israel and its northern neighbor. Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal lives in Damascus.
Armed with this information, Specter turned to Syrian President Bashar Assad, with whom he met last week – and there the process apparently stopped cold. Specter later told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that talks between Syria and Israel have always depended on “a heavy press by the United States,” but he expressed optimism that negotiations might begin without preconditions at some point. He did not provide further details.
Syria has repeatedly demanded as a precondition for peace talks that Israel cede the Golan Heights to Damascus, which the IDF restored to Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War and which has since blossomed as an agricultural development and tourism mecca for visitors both within the country and who come from abroad.
In the months before the launch of Israel's 2008-2009 winter retaliation against Hamas terrorists, Operation Cast Lead, Turkey had been brokering indirect talks between Jerusalem and Damascus – also with little concrete accomplishment, at least publicly. Rumors were rampant that former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had allegedly considered an agreement to trade the Golan Heights with Syria in exchange for a peace agreement, but the talks came to naught.
Prior to and during the talks, as well as afterwards, Syria continued to allow the smuggling of weapons from Iran through its border to the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terrorist organization, which receives generous support from the Islamic Republic. A top Revolutionary Guard official, in fact, recently was appointed as Hizbullah's Number Two, second only to the group's chief, Hassan Nasrallah.
Several months ago, Syria -- which has tightened its military ties with Iran and Turkey -- was accused of transferring Scud missiles to Hizbullah, which has amassed a weapons arsenal of some 40,000 rockets and missiles, far more than the cache with which it began the Second Lebanon War against Israel in 2006.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which was tasked with preventing the re-arming of Hizbullah when the ceasefire agreement ended the 34-day war, admitted at the time that it would be unable to accomplish that goal.