Hafez Assad
* Few, if any, of the current news stories on Syrian President Hafez Assad’s rejection of Israel’s peace overtures remind readers that Assad has played a cat-and-mouse game with Israel and the United States for years. None of us should forget that during former Prime Ministers Rabin’s and Peres’ administrations, when the land-for-peace formula was a fundamental principle of Israel’s negotiating posture, Assad also rejected every Israeli peace overture.
Now that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a different approach, Assad would have us believe that it is Israel that isn’t serious about achieving peace with Syria.
Israel must play the diplomatic game and continue to keep the door open to Syria for the sake of peace and a slight glimmer that maybe the constellation of political factors will align suddenly and an agreement can be reached. However, we should acknowledge that peace likely will not come between Israel and Syria until after Assad passes from the scene and new leadership emerges in Syria that is not only more pragmatic, but also more moral.
I would hope that America will not be suckered to think Assad is peace-loving. Israel certainly knows otherwise.
RABBI JOHN L. ROSOVE
Temple Israel of Hollywood
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