Mideast Gains Must Come Soon

The opening round of Israel-Syria peace talks did not achieve a breakthrough, but neither did it end in a breakdown. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shareh plan to meet again under U.S. auspices next week, somewhere in the Washington area. Despite prodding by President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright throughout the weeklong talks, Barak and Shareh determinedly stuck to their own sluggish negotiating pace.

At this stage both are trying to prove to their domestic constituencies how tough they are in pressing their positions. Some of this is posturing. Much of it reflects the real problems that lie ahead when agonizing compromises on vital points will have to be made.

Some American officials take comfort in what they say is a cordial relationship that has developed between Shareh and Barak. But if such a bond exists it has been kept well hidden in public. So far as is known, the two men have never shaken hands or even spoken casually one on one. This is a far cry from how the Egypt-Israel peace process evolved two decades ago. The late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat used to say the Arab-Israeli conflict was 90% psychological and only 10% political. He showed genius as well as courage in first laying siege to the psychological barriers. When it comes to Israel-Syria relations, those walls remain high and unbreached.

That will have to start changing if the second round of talks is not to become the last. The leaders of Israel and Syria know the benefits that peace would bring. Israel would gain acceptance and recognition by its neighbors. For Syria’s President Hafez Assad to keep the status quo is to assure that his country will remain a politically isolated economic backwater. But change could erode his rationale for keeping Syria a police state controlled by the son he is grooming as his successor. National interests dictate one course for Assad. Personal power considerations could dictate another.