Syria's neighbors envision a cold peace with Israel
Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Tuesday, January 11, 2000
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."