US-Syria thaw could hasten Mid-East settlement

World view by Lynn Ockersz

Finally, a breakthrough in hitherto strained US-Syria relations ? This is the question raised by the news that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem recently for talks on Iraq.

"We believe this is an opportunity for the United States to change its attitude toward the region and start engaging us and the rest of the region", Syrian Ambassador to the US Imad Moustapha was quoted saying at a forum in the US while discussing the significance of the meeting and issues related to Iraq.

The meeting could indeed have substantial implications for Middle East peace and is certainly of ground-breaking importance considering that not so long ago, Syria, along with Iran and North Korea, were labelled by US President George Bush as being the main parties in an "Axis of evil" that posed a threat to global security.

In fact Rice also had occasion to speak briefly but pleasantly recently to the Iran Foreign Minister, signifying a change of stance for the better on the part of the US even towards Iran, which has, of course, been having conflictual ties with Washington on the nuclear issue and other questions.

Hopefully, from now on the US-Syria dialogue would be on a positive course because it is not sufficiently realised that Syria is as important to Middle East peace as Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The Middle-East conflict envelopes a whole region on account of Israel having territorial disputes with not only the Palestinian people but also some neighbouring Arab states, including Syria and Lebanon. Accordingly, a holistic approach needs to be taken to the Middle East and the US seems to be beginning to do just that.

A Middle East resolution, in turn, is closely bound-up with issues at the heart of the conflict in Iraq and it follows that if progress is made towards ending the Middle East conflict by political means, it could have a positive impact on efforts to end the bloodletting in Iraq.

Therefore, all eyes should from now on be on US diplomacy in the Middle East, for, some refreshing changes seem to be taking place in Washington's approach to ending the conflict in the region.

A US-Syrian dialogue could prove exceedingly crucial in view of the fact that Syria is being accused by sections of the West of fomenting tensions in both Iraq and Lebanon.

These issues need to be discussed dispassionately by both sides but central to winning Syrian cooperation in Middle East peace-making, would be assistance by the West in resolving Syria's long-simmering dispute with Israel, centering on the Golan Heights.

The Golan Heights, claimed by Syria, is under Israeli control and unless this dispute is resolved to the satisfaction of Syria, it is unlikely that the latter would be cooperating fully in bringing Middle-East peace.

Accordingly, Western efforts at resolving the Middle East conflict would need to focus on ending Israel's territorial disputes with its Arab neighbours. "Land for peace", in short.

The Palestinian side too would need to base its dispute - resolving efforts on the "Land for peace" principle. It would need to realise that there is no getting away from the two-state formula if some progress is to be made towards ending the Middle East problem. That is, Palestine should exist beside Israel in a peaceful cohabitation arrangement.

It is an earnest effort on the part of the West to base their conflict-resolution efforts in the Middle East on these parameters which would help in deescalating the turmoil in Iraq. For, as long as the US is seen as being allied with "arch enemy" Israel, it would provoke hostility to its presence anywhere in the Middle East, South-West Asia and Iraq.

In Iraq, of course, the US has compounded hostility to itself by playing an overt military role and would need to think seriously in terms of a phased military withdrawal from the blood-soaked state. But in Iraq too, bringing an end to the turmoil would prove very much easier if the US adopts a broad, or holistic approach to Middle East peace.

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