The president of Syria, Bashir Assad has reportedly offered peace talks with Israel that has been turned down by the Israeli authorities on the ground that they cannot go against the U.S. According to reports Syria in its offer had not set any preconditions for the talks to the extent that it had not even mentioned Golan Heights issue. On the other hand, the Israeli Prime Minister shoting downm the proposal said that we cannot act against our friend George Bush who has no interest in accommodation between Israel and Syria.
This marks a clear departure from Israel’s past policy which had set the demand for direct and unconditional talks with the Arab countries in its heart of its policies. Following the paradigm shift in its policies, Israel has now presented a list of preconditions ahead of any talks with Arab countries. Israel has strong reservation against Syria’s policy of accommodating Hamas in its political fold and its alliance with Iran.
Following the rigid and unbending attitude to resolve dispute with the neighboring countries cannot help Israel in establishing peace in the Middle East region. Clear enough, the recent turn around in its approach is largely influenced by the massive and significant U.S. presence in the region.
Strategically, if Israel agrees to hold talks with Syria without any external influence that would certainly put George Bush in a an extremely vulnerable position as the U.S. till now out rightly rejected any direct talks with Syria. Further any talks between these two countries would definitely leave U.S. administration defenseless in the internal U.S. debate over Middle East policies.
