The Height Of Folly?
When options are so slight as to be hairsbreadth-fine, does one logically leap into an inferno hoping to reach the opposite edge of the burning gulf? When one's hold on hope becomes so tenuous that desperation compels suing for a settlement with an entity which has proven time and again to harbour seriously harmful intents against one's longevity, is that an expression of logic?It's been known for some time that Israel has engaged in fairly high-level, low-expectation talks with Syria. And in that period, when covert meetings were ongoing between Israeli legislators such as Tzipi Livni and Syrian bargaining agents, was there any amelioration of Syria's malevolent presence in the area, a softening of its orders to Hezbollah, a distancing from Iran?
Syria is beside itself as it has been since 1967, that ownership of the Golan Heights was taken out of their hands, and resides with Israel. It ferociously demands return of the very heights from which it pounded Israeli towns below, attacks that succeeded in killing and wounding many Israeli civilians, exacting turmoil and destruction.
Syria, close ally of Iran, Lebanon's predator-nation; supporter of the Iran-Syria proxy militia Hezbollah, cheerer-on of Hamas, remains odd-nation-out in the Arab federation, preferring its cozy relationship with the Persians and its command of terrorist militias. They've all, collectively and singly, vowed the destruction of the Jewish State as their stated aim.
A scant few months ago Israel bombed Syria's nascent nuclear facility.
How naive could an administration be to imagine in their wildest nightmares that this is a regime which could be trusted. The Golan Heights to be returned to Syria in exchange for a promise of peace, that Syria disconnect itself from its Persian ally, initiate the disbandment of Hezbollah? On trust?
That a signatory to demilitarization of the zone between Israel and Syria is deserving of confidence?
Most certainly Israel has good enough reason to trust Turkey, a Muslim country that sincerely would like to establish peace and order in the geography of the Middle East. Asserting its credentials as a secular regime patterned on the democratic model of responsible governance yet looking to its Muslim inheritance to do honour to Islam through the pursuit of universal peace.
Initially, should such an agreement be stamped, signed, sealed and delivered, it would enhance Turkey's position within the European Union; it would demonstrate that the country's new, Sharia-leaning administration could be all things to all governments. In the process Israel would submit to losing the strategic advantage of the heights, along with control of the Sea of Galilee. The verdant and beautiful agricultural areas around the Golan Heights as well.
While the current administration appears to feel that any overture is worth the effort, the Israeli public does not appear to agree, since fully 75% of the population opposes the potential of such a withdrawal and handover. For one thing, what guarantees could there possibly be? None, other than placing trust in an egregiously and unabashedly untrustworthy regime.
Israel is dangerously beleaguered on all its borders; add Syria to that malignant standard, inviting al-Qaeda to set up shop on its northern border. Israel risks everything in handing over the Golan Heights; what does Bashar al-Assad risk? He would simply be further advantaged and emboldened to enter Lebanon again and occupy it alongside Hezbollah, while bombarding Israel from all corners, plus a height.
In a region where fresh, potable water is scarce and may be getting scarcer, that's quite a sacrifice to make on Israel's part in the dim, extremely faint hope that tribal, cultural, traditional, religious enmity that has smoldered for so long will not leap into a conflagration engulfing it completely. All indications from Syria are that it has no intention of standing down from its current club membership in terror and aggression.
Peace with Syria? How long would that fiction last?
Labels: Israel, Political Realities, Terrorism
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, May 21, 2008
<< Home