Jeff Blankfort writes:
I just finished Seymour Hersh's piece in the New Yorker, "Syria Calling," and am no less sure than I was before that Israel does not want to negotiate a deal with Syria,
only give the appearance of wanting to do so for global PR reasons. One
of the reasons Erdogan was so furious at Peres is that two or three
days before the attack on Gaza, Olmert
had been meeting with Erdogan and that a deal between Syria and Israel
had, according to him, been agreed upon and Olmert never said a word to
Erdogan about the forthcoming attack even though he obviously knew
about it and knew that it would be a deal breaker which was Israel's intent and I believe one of the reasons for the attack on Gaza at that time. Assad
knows all this and that is why he is so publicly willing to re-open the
negotiations and to put the onus on Israel when it starts backing off.
Assad is not about to turn its back on either Hezbollah or Hamas whatever happens because his support for both groups is the source of his prestige in the Arab world
beyond the palaces of the Sheikhs. As far as Obama's pressure on Israel
to pull back before the inauguration, I'm not buying that as anything
but an effort by the Repubs to damage him in the eyes of the lobby.
Israel obviously intended to get the job over with quickly and before
he took office and that he has still not pressured Israel to open its
borders or hold back arms shipments tells me he is still in thrall to
the lobby in keeping with the big D Democratic Party tradition.
only give the appearance of wanting to do so for global PR reasons. One
of the reasons Erdogan was so furious at Peres is that two or three
days before the attack on Gaza, Olmert
had been meeting with Erdogan and that a deal between Syria and Israel
had, according to him, been agreed upon and Olmert never said a word to
Erdogan about the forthcoming attack even though he obviously knew
about it and knew that it would be a deal breaker which was Israel's intent and I believe one of the reasons for the attack on Gaza at that time. Assad
knows all this and that is why he is so publicly willing to re-open the
negotiations and to put the onus on Israel when it starts backing off.
Assad is not about to turn its back on either Hezbollah or Hamas whatever happens because his support for both groups is the source of his prestige in the Arab world
beyond the palaces of the Sheikhs. As far as Obama's pressure on Israel
to pull back before the inauguration, I'm not buying that as anything
but an effort by the Repubs to damage him in the eyes of the lobby.
Israel obviously intended to get the job over with quickly and before
he took office and that he has still not pressured Israel to open its
borders or hold back arms shipments tells me he is still in thrall to
the lobby in keeping with the big D Democratic Party tradition.
