My man of the week is Syrian President Bashar Assad. His call to calm the crisis in Israeli-Turkish relations seems like a serious attempt to cool the mutual invective between Ankara and Jerusalem. "If the relationship between Turkey and Israel is not renewed, it will be very difficult for Turkey to play a role in negotiations to revive the Middle East peace process," Assad said on Monday in Spain. And he added that failure to mend these ties would "without doubt affect the stability in the region."
Assad's balanced position was a surprise. Instead of getting up and cursing Israel for its "aggression" against a Gaza-bound flotilla in May, he acted like a responsible neighbor by trying to calm the dispute. His remarks are being interpreted as a diplomatic warning to Turkey's leaders: If you continue quarreling with Israel, you will lose your influence and encourage the extremists who undermine stability. Cool it.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, have turned out to be talented diplomats. The flotilla that set out for the Gaza Strip under their aegis resulted in the easing of Israel's blockade on Gaza. And Davutoglu's recent meeting with Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer did more to undermine the unity of Israel's governing coalition than any other incident to date. Even U.S. President Barack Obama, for all his efforts, was unable to so threaten the stability of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rule.
But the Turks are not resting on their laurels. They are presenting the discord with Israel as an issue of national honor. They demand that Israel apologize for the killing of Turkish civilians during its boarding of the Mavi Marmara, or alternatively, that Israel allow itself to be investigated by an international commission and pledge to accept its conclusions. Otherwise, Ankara will cut its ties with Israel. Netanyahu, however, has made it clear that Israel will not apologize "for our soldiers being forced to defend themselves."
The moment the run-in becomes an issue of honor, it is difficult to find a solution. How can one compromise on national honor and look like a dishrag to the rest of the world? And Turkey's alternative demand, that Israel agree to an international probe, is less humiliating than the demand for an apology, but still very problematic.
First of all, by easing the blockade of Gaza after the flotilla incident, Israel admitted in retrospect that its previous policy was wrong. No international commission will justify the blockade after Netanyahu has renounced it. Second, there is no "objective" commission. An international commission headed by Alan Dershowitz will rule completely differently than a commission headed by Richard Goldstone, even if they are shown the same evidence.
Clearly, the third option, cutting off ties, would be very bad for Israel, and Netanyahu must make every effort to prevent it. He seems to understand this, and therefore dispatched Ben-Eliezer to meet with the Turkish foreign minister. But the meeting was fruitless.
There is another way out of the entanglement: Move the disagreement from the field of honor to the field of interests, and thereby give both sides an opportunity to emerge from the corner into which they have painted themselves. This is where Assad comes in.
The Israeli establishment, which admired Assad senior, tends to disparage his son and depict him as a confused, bumbling child. But that is foolishness and conceit. In his 10 years in power, Bashar Assad has maintained Syria's internal stability and secular character, retaken control of Lebanon and nurtured Hezbollah as a strategic deterrent against Israel. That is quite a bit.
Assad's decision not to respond to the 2007 bombing of the nuclear reactor he built in the desert shows that he is a rational and restrained leader. It is not hard to imagine how Israel would respond to an attack on a military base in its territory: with strategic bombing, all-out war and anxieties about holocaust and destruction. Assad showed that sometimes, it is better to sit quietly. The bombing may have destroyed the reactor, but Syria's strategic standing in the region has only grown stronger since then.
After the attack on the reactor, in which Israel once again violated Turkish sovereignty, former prime minister Ehud Olmert was quick to renew talks with Syria, mediated by Erdogan and Davutoglu. The Turks restrained themselves over the flight across their airspace and set to work to lead a diplomatic effort that calmed tension in the north.
Now, Assad is proposing the same deal, in the opposite direction: Let's renew talks on the Syrian channel and give the Turks and Israelis something important to deal with instead of mutual recriminations over the flotilla. Instead of competing over who has more honor, it would be better to work to improve the region's situation.
Erdogan and Netanyahu should listen to their responsible neighbor. They might discover that the road from Ankara to Jerusalem can also run through Damascus.
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I think President Assad is wary of Turkey's increasing influence in the region for the following reasons: 1. It comes at the expense of Iran, Syria, and Hizbollah, which had until now, hijacked the Palestinian "cause" and taken the most vocal and extreme positions which appealed to the Arab street; 2. Turkey, a country of Sunnis, is a more natural ally to the other Arab Sunni countries in the region; 3. Turkey can offer to play an intermediary between the West and the Arabs thus depriving Syria of one of its own cards; 4. Syria has several unresolved problems with Turkey relating to their border, Kurds, etc. I don't believe that Assad is sincere about not wanting to lose Turkey as a possible mediator with Israel. There is no shortage of countries that would fill this gap in a minute, should Assad wish to engage with Israel. This includes Sweden, Norway, and othes...
Assad should be courageous if he wants peace by offering full, complete and immediate normalization of relations with Israel in exchange for the peaceful return of the Golan Heights. From Israel`s point of view, that`s a deal worth taking while Syria has nothing to lose. Does this make too much sense for the childish parties involved? Winning a war, as Israel did in 1967, does not entitle you to keep the other peoples' territory. The United States, Britain and the USSR did not keep Germany, Italy or Japan after WW2. You fight wars for peace. By giving back Syria's territory in exchange for peace and full normalization, Israel will have achieved its goal. If Syria is too immature to make this offer then Israel should. By "normalization" I mean relations that will allow an Israeli to drive up to Damascus for lunch while a Syrian can drive down to Tel Aviv to go to the beach or a club. That's true normalization. Everybody gets what they want.
President Assad is a deceiver. It is in his heart to destroy not just a few nations. He is highly skilled in trade and negotiations. Haven't you noticed the many nations that have been meeting with him lately, including the US. Through the notion of peace he will kill many, destroying masterfully. He will attack the mightiest of nations. Interestingly his father changed the family name to Assad (the lion) from Wahash (the beast). What reason could he have to do that except to deceive many? He will be punished by the Father of Life. His nation (Syria) shall receive a shaking. Damascus shall be destroyed, never to be inhabited again. He will then flee to Jerusalem. What lies between Damascus and Jerusalem? The Jesreel Valley or the Megiddo Valley. Making any sense yet?
Assad of Syria needs the peace with Israel in order to stop Syria from total collapse.It has no water to speak of ahd many thousands of people who used to be farmers live in the cities in severe p[overty.He wants to get a hold of the KINERET. He needs turkey to help facilitating this desird peace becuase he does know that a war with Israel will n ot give him the KINERET but actually will do more damage to and to the country. Israel has no business appologising to Turkey for her soldiers defending themselves from the Turkish terror attack ,We understand how humiliating this is for Turkey but she brought it on herself.
This dispute with Turkey will not affect the region as a whole it will affect relations with Turkey and Israel nobody else. Assads problem is that when Turkey was SUPPOSEDLY mediating all the were doing was telling Olmert Assads right if he wants the Golan & Kineret waters then give it to him. Assad had an ally fighting his cause. Now Turkey is not on good terms with Israel and not being asked to supposedly mediate it means Assad has no friends to help him. Whilst Obama might be an ally to the arabs right now he is preoccupied with the palestinians to worry about the Syrian front and probably will not have the time to start pushing that before the US election which there is a good chance he may lose now his messianic image is gone and he has lost alot of his popularity and Assad is worried that Obama will lose and be replaced by a more Israel friendly president. The decision not to respond to the bombing of the reactor didn't show he was a good leader it showed that he was not going to see his armed forces smashed and humiliated over 1 incident where there would have been no reward for him other than being able to say hey guys I fought back. Syria might be smashed but I can stand proud and say I had the courage to fight Israel.... Assad is not so stupid that he will start a war which will not actually have any potential gains for him if he won that though does not make him a responsible leader or a peace maker. The only thing Assad knows how to do with any degree of responsibility is support terror. Please
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