Israel And Syria, Friends After All?

When I saw a headline about Israel and Syria holding peace talks for the last two years my first thought was, "hmmm that's interesting" with wide open eyes and my tongue hanging out of my mouth. Why would news like this interest me so much though? I think its the joy of knowing I was right. I haven't written much about it but for a long time I have assumed Syria's threat to the Middle East to be very little and I have also strongly supported the theory that the U.S. and Israel know fully well that Syria poses little threat.

Even better is that Olmert isnt denying that Syrian officials met with Israeli officials, he's denying he knew about it, which is a weak defense, its kind of like when athletes say they never "knowingly" took steroids.

The Ha'aretz report Tuesday morning said that Israelis and Syrians reached understandings on a future peace deal during clandestine talks held in Europe.

According to the report, the talks focused on a draft peace agreement, based upon Israel's withdrawal from the Golan Heights and a return to 1967 borders.

Reportedly, Syria demanded that the move be made within five years, though Israel said the plan would be gradually implemented over 15 years.

Moreover, Syria would be willing to discontinue support for Hezbollah and Hamas, and cut ties with Iran. The report also stated that Israel would have complete control over the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee.

Ha'aretz reported that the Syrian representative in the talks was Ibrahim Suleiman, an American citizen who had visited Jerusalem and delivered a message on Syrian interest in an agreement with Israel.

Supposedly Syria is this giant sponsor of terrorism and they are Iran's agent and blah blah blah. However let me ask you this, how willing would you be to give your enemy back land you captured in 1967 for no apparent reason and how evil could he be if you are bad mouthing him in public and negotiating with him in secret? Either way it doesn't really matter because those who don't want to believe its true will accept Olmerts denial and those who don't, wont.

Oh and one more thing. Is Olmert having a rough time in office or what? This is like his 4th or 5th scandal, not to mention that he's being investigated for his role in an illegal sale of an Israeli bank and his Army Chief just resigned over his mishandling of the Lebanon offensive the past summer. ( I actually think he did a good job, I mean he accomplished his goals, didn't he? Lebanon is a pile of ruble now.)


P.S. I found this chart on the internet, I guess it's an "intelegence" report on Syria's "WMD's". Does this look familiar to anyone? Hehehehe