//CORRECTED REPEAT//POLITICS-ISRAEL/SYRIA: Talks Take A Shaky Step Forward

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Kim Ghattas

DAMASCUS, SYRIA, Jan 5 2000 (IPS) - The peace talks between Israel and Syria, taking place in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, took a shaky step forward this week, after a disagreement which almost stalled the negotiations.

US President Bill Clinton, who is hosting the talks, met Israeli Premier Ehud Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk el Sharaa Tuesday evening, paving way for delegates to start dealing with all the outstanding issues in a bid to reach a peace agreement.

The issues under discussions include the border point from which Jewish settlers will withdraw from the Golan Heights, a mountainous region occupied by Israel in 1967, security arrangements after the withdrawal, water and normalisation of ties. Israel sought to address the security issue first, while Syria wanted to start with border issue. It is not clear yet how the crisis was resolved, as all sides remain tight-lipped over the deal.

Syrians, desperate to regain the Golan Heights, are hopeful about the outcome of the peace talks. When Israel announced last week that the building of settlements would continue on the Golan as long as there was no peace agreement, many Syrians didn’t see it as a move against peace, but as a ploy by Israel to claim more compensation after a withdrawal from the occupied territory.

Israel is seeking 20 billion US Dollars compensation for its withdrawal, since it will be leaving behind a number of factories producing electronics, shoes or wine, as well as 32 settlements. The question is what will Israel do with all the buildings on the occupied territory. For many Syrians, the most probable scenario is that Israel will destroy everything or strip all buildings before withdrawing.

“I once saw an Israeli wearing a cap that read ‘we will never leave the Golan’,” recalls Hadia Abu Zeid, a student in Damascus, the capital of Syria.

“I told him that sooner or later they would. He said that if it would come to that they would destroy and burn everything behind them,” she says.

Abu Zeid comes from Majdel Shams, which is one of the five villages on the Golan Heights still inhabited by Syrians. Around 300 students from those villages are allowed to study in Damascus, returning to their villages every summer.

It would not, however, be the first time that Israel leaves behind a trail of destruction, once its citizens are forced out of the occupied territory.

Milad Tannous, 23, who has been living in the village of Quneitra, a ghost town since 1974 when Israel withdrew from 20 percent of the Golan, dynamiting and bulldozing down the vacated suburb.

“My only wish for the New Year is that we have peace. Peace is all I think of,” says Tannous.

His home is one of the few still standing in Quneitra which is the only town that was not rebuilt because around 20 percent still lies under occupation. It was meant to stay as a witness to the Israeli excesses.

“My friends are a bit tired of me speaking about it all the time, but peace means most for those who are directly affected by it, like us here. For others, peace will just mean they will be able to visit this town like any other town,” says Tannous.

Tannous is delighted about the peace talks in the United States.

“This round of talks is a test of Barak’s seriousness in his commitment for peace. Optimism or pessimism are not the accurate measures now,” says Youssef Makdessi, advisor to the Syrian minister of information.

Up to now there has been no talk of compensation for Syria. When Israel occupied Golan, it destroyed 132 Syrian villages and 112 farms. Thirty percent of Israel’s water come from the territory, which is very fertile and is a key-water source in the area.

“We’re not talking about a business deal here, we’re not buying and selling something, we’re asking for peace and our land,” says Makdessi.

Observers have warned that failure of the talks will be dangerous for the region and Clinton, who wants to end his presidency, which expires late this year, with the achievement of peace in the Middle East. The US President has announced that he would be available all week to help.

But there are also those who are not sure what peace will bring to Syria, where the widespread feeling is that prosperity will go hand-in-hand with the stability engendered by a peace agreement.

“We are thinking of moving back to Syria, so we’re trying to figure out whether we can have the same living standards as we have in Romania,” says Rami Zeidan, who has been living in Romania for 15 years. Zeidan and his family, including his Romanian wife, were visiting Syria during the holidays and also drove to the Syrian side of the Golan.

“We are not basing our decision on whether there’s peace or not. Who said peace would make everything better? We all thought that doing away with socialism would improve our lives in Eastern Europe, look at where we are now,” adds his wife.