Syria's neighbors envision a cold peace with Israel

CAIRO [MENL] -- Arab government media, including that of Egypt and Syria, have warned against normalizing relations with Israel.

Over the last week, the message in the official media of several Arab governments is that Syria should seek an Israeli withdrawal from the entire Golan Heights without agreeing to peace and normalization with Israel. The newspapers warned that normalization of relations with Israel would harm the Arabs.

Israeli government sources said leading scholars have already warned Prime Minister Ehud Barak that Syria will not agree to a so-called warm peace. "We have to take into consideration that we have a very difficult client who doesn't smile at us and won't smile at us in the future," said Eyal Zisser, a lecturer at Tel Aviv University.

The Syrian weekly, Al Usbua Al Adabi, said that Israel has used its cultural and economic attaches to spy on Egypt and other Arab states, particularly Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians. The weekly, published by the Syrian Arab Writers Association, said Israel will use normalization as a new method of warfare against the Arabs and Muslims.

The weekly, in its Jan. 1 edition, said Israel has tried to destroy Egypt's economy and society. This has included the distribution of gum in Egypt meant to cause sterility, the destruction of farmland by Israeli seeds and the spread of Aids by Jewish girls.

"The Zionists have not missed a dirty trick to destabilize Egyptian society, including its religion and beliefs," the weekly said.

On Wednesday, Salah Eddin Hafez wrote in the Al Ahram daily that an Israeli-Syrian accord will lead Lebanon to sign a peace treaty with Israel. This, he said, would end any Arab war front against Israel and fully guarantee Israel's borders and recognize the Jewish state.

"With the signing of both Syria and Lebanon, Israel's borders would be fully guaranteed by the Arabs," Hafez said. "In addition, an outright political and legal recognition of the state of Israel will ensue, which qualifies it for a new regional role in a Middle East where it would be superior. Given their geographical location, both Syria and Lebanon will, then, become Israel's passageway into the Arab Mashreq and the Gulf region."

Hafez warned that the Palestinians would suffer if Israel signs a peace treaty with Syria before a final status accord is reached.

"Two questions are raised," Hafez said. "First, what role could Egypt, the pivotal state, then assume, particularly that Israel, after signing peace agreements with Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, would naturally wish to settle its long standing account with Egypt? Second, what future should Arabs expect under Israeli hegemony? What hope will they ever have, when the underpinnings of their system are destroyed and the wreckage used to build a new a Middle East in which a misconstrued culture of peace rules."