Israel leftists swallow Syrian bait

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By Stan Goodenough
December 17, 2006

Left-wing Israeli lawmakers, for whom the Land of Israel has long ceased to be sacred, Sunday gave credence to Syrian president Bashar el-Assad’s “invitation” for peace talks.

Assad, seen by many as Israel’s most dangerous foe, and against whom intelligence officials have predicted that Israel will wage a war in 2007, had Saturday dared Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to “take the risk and see whether we are lying [about wanting peace] or not.”

Olmert dismissed the feeler, saying Israel was interested in a change of heart from Damascus, not the mere use of words.

But Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Assad’s offer was worthy of “serious examination.”

“We need to look into it,” the veteran socialist and Labor Party leader said at the weekly cabinet meeting, contradicting his boss.

He admitted that “any agreement comes with a price tag. In the case of Syria, the price tag [the Golan Heights] is known.”

Israel’s overwhelmingly leftist media quickly latched onto Peretz’s remarks, and are expected to push the debate in the public realm in the coming days, thereby assuring that Assad achieve the results for which he made his statement: further division in Israel over the way to deal with its Arab foes, and renewed impetus on the diplomatic process adding momentum to the Iraq Study Group’s recently published recommendations.

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