given on the condition that I keep it “in
Animal oil painting,my pocket” until it could be formally presented toSyria in the context of a complete solution. After Yitzhak’s death, Shimon Peres reaffirmedthe pocket commitment, and on this basis we had sponsored talks between the Syrians and theIsraelis in 1996 at Wye River. Peres wanted me to sign a security treaty with Israel if it gaveup the Golan, an idea that was suggested to me later by Netanyahu and would be advancedagain by Barak. I had told them I was willing to do it.Dennis Ross and our team had been making progress until Bibi Netanyahu defeated Peres inthe election amid a rash of terrorist activity. Then
Floral oil painting,the Syrian negotiations faltered. Now Barakwanted to start them up again, though as yet he was unwilling to reaffirm the precise words ofthe Rabin pocket commitment.Barak had to contend with a very different Israeli
Landscape oil painting ,electorate from the one Rabin had led.There were many more immigrants, and the Russians in particular were opposed to giving upthe Golan. Natan Sharansky, who had become a hero in the West during his longimprisonment in the Soviet Union and had accompanied Netanyahu to Wye in 1998,explained the Russian Jews’ attitude to me. He said they had come from the world’s largestcountry to one of its smallest ones, and didn’t believe in making Israel even smaller by givingup the Golan or the West Bank. They also considered Syria to be no threat to Israel. Theyweren’t at peace but were not at war either. If Syria attacked Israel, the Israelis could wineasily. Why give up the Golan?While Barak didn’t agree with this view, he
Nude oil paintinghad to contend with it. Nevertheless, he wanted tomake peace with Syria, was confident the issues could be resolved, and wanted me to convenenegotiations as soon as possible. By January, I had been working for more than three monthswith the Syrian foreign minister, Farouk al-Shara, and by telephone with President Assad toset the stage for the talks. Assad was not in good health and wanted to regain the Golan beforehe died, but he had to be careful. He wanted his son Bashar to succeed him, and apart from hisown conviction that Syria should get back all the land it had occupied before June 4, 1967, hehad to make an agreement that would not be subject to attack from forces within Syria whosesupport his son would need.Assad’s frailty and a stroke suffered by Foreign Minister Shara in the fall of 1999 heightenedBarak’s sense of urgency. At his request, I sent Assad a letter saying I thought Barak waswilling to make a deal if we could resolve the definition of the border, the control of water,and the early-warning post, and that if they did reach agreement, the United States would beprepared to establish bilateral relations with Syria, a move Barak had urged. That was a bigstep for us, given Syria’s past support of terrorism. Of course, Assad would have to stopsupporting terrorism in order to achieve normal relations with the U.S., but if he had theGolan back, the incentive to support the Hezbollah terrorists who attacked Israel fromLebanon would evaporate.Barak wanted peace with Lebanon, too,
Seascape oil painting,because he had committed to withdrawing Israeliforces from the country by the end of the year, and a peace agreement would make Israel saferfrom Hezbollah attacks along the border, and would not make it appear that Israel hadwithdrawn because of the attacks. As he well knew, no agreement with Lebanon would comewithout Syria’s consent and involvement.Assad replied a month later in a letter that appeared to back away from his previous position,perhaps because of the uncertainties in Syria that his and Shara’s health problems had caused.715
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