Strategic Assessment

On May 21, 2008, Israel and Syria announced that under the auspices of Turkey, they would begin indirect peace talks in an effort “to reach a comprehensive peace.” Syria asserted that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had committed to a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights to the June 4, 1967 border, and Israel did not explicitly deny the report. The American administration, which was informed in advance, reacted to the announcement with little enthusiasm, but has not labored to torpedo the process. The announcement of the renewal of Israel-Syria negotiations after an eight year hiatus came following separate talks by the Turks with Israeli and Syrian officials in Ankara. As in the past, reports of the revival of negotiations with Syria aroused much hullabaloo among the Israeli public and Israeli politicians. The prime minister was accused of using the talks to deflect public attention from the criminal investigations against him. Any substantive debate on the issue, however, will apparently be postponed until it becomes clearer what is actually under discussion.