Syria-Israeli peace talks 'too broad for real compromises'

Dubai: The indirect peace talks between Syria and Israel are too broad and complicated to eventually lead to a settlement with major compromises, said a senior researcher at the US-based Centre for Strategic International Studies, who noted the unwillingness of both sides to make such concessions.

The conditions for peace between Damascus and Tel Aviv are "not yet ripe" and no one is really sure if the indirect talks, conducted through Turkey, are meant to achieve real peace, said Anthony Cordesman, author of two reports published by the Centre for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) on weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Syria and Israel.

"In my opinion, the talks, which have been conducted between the two countries for almost two years, are not transparent enough to achieve a lasting peace in the region," he warned in an interview with Gulf News over telephone from his Washington office.

"One of the problems with [secret] negotiations between the two countries, which we hear about these days, is that they could serve other purposes. One of them is that the two sides are trying to point [out] to the international community that they are trying to reach a peace agreement even if there is not much prospect for success.

"It could be also a cover up for building key military facilities in preparation for war. Thirdly, the peace could be to calm down worries about military exercises by the two countries and to exchange messages between the leaders of the two nations," he said.

Cordesman said: "I think people are wanting too much from the talks without having a transparent idea of what actually is going on."

The current talks between the two countries were initiated in the aftermath of the Israeli war on Lebanon in 2006.

"The talks were made public only last month after an agreement to resolve the Lebanese political crisis was reached in Doha."

The talks might be just a facade of an attempt by both sides to keep the status quo, which has prevailed for three decades, following the rise in tension in the wake of the 2006 war.

Syria recognises that the region badly needs to see a peace deal, he said. But the military imbalance between Syria and Israel, he added, which is in favour of the Jewish state despite the latest buildup in Syria of some unconventional capability, can also serve as an incentive for an unwillingness to compromise.

Syrian capabilities of WMDs could be "suicidal", he said.

"They are too weak to allow Syria to launch an attack on Israel because this will be an extraordinarily provocative move with very little damage to Israel. "Talk about the peace in the region is also meant to disconnect Syria from its strategic allies of Iran and Hezbollah," he said.

But Syria is not ready to accept such a deal simply because there is no guarantee to ensure that that would result in a genuine and lasting peace.

Syrian President Bashar Al Assad said on Saturday that such conditions were unacceptable and that Israel has not raised the issue.

But Cordesman said: "If Syria could assure Israel that what would happen is a lasting peace on Syrian-Israeli border; then Israel might still be prepared to return the Golan Heights to Syria.

"It might not return the water rights [of Lake Tiberias] or to have back the little shore line on the lake, but when it comes down to all of the aspects of Golan, there is still potential for a deal there," he said.

However, he said, before the deal could work, "Syria has to make it clear that it will not be dealing with Iran. It has to prove that it is not going to be support Hezbollah as its proxy in Lebanon", he said.