In This Article
30-Second Summary
Headline Link: ‘Israel Opens Peace Talks with Syria’
Video: ‘Diplomatic Officials: Syria Must Cut Terror Ties’
Background: Turkey and its Israel policy
Reactions: ‘Assad Says “Ready to Cooperate” in Turkish Israel-Syria Peace Bid’
Historical Context: The Israel–Syria conflict
Related Topic: ‘Israeli Prime Minister Will Resign if Charged with Bribery’
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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, left, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan
Turkey Mediates in Latest Round of Israel–Syria Peace Talks
by
Anne Szustek
Israel and Syria are negotiating in Turkish capital Ankara. The two countries have never reached a formal peace accord.
30-Second Summary
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad asked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to mediate when Assad said he received word from Israel that it would forfeit the Golan Heights—long a precondition for Syria agreeing to peace with its neighbor.
An article published last month in Qatari newspaper Al-Watan insinuated that Turkey has been involved in backroom talks with Syria on the issue for at least a year, however.
Turkish Ambassador to Washington Nabi Sensoy said, “We will be glad to help with any international problems, including the ones in the Middle East.”
After the first day of talks, Israel remains steadfast that Syria renounce its ties with Hamas, a militant group considered terrorists by Israel and the United States. “We want peace with the Syrians, and they know what we expect from them,” said a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Turkey traditionally has maintained friendly relations with both Israel and Syria. Turkey is one of the few countries in the region that admits visitors traveling on Israeli passports, and it shares a border with the latter.
Yet Islamism and ultranationalism have characterized much of Turkish politics over the past five years, coloring policy toward Israel. Two AKP-affiliated Turkish officials declined to meet with Pinhas Avivi, former Israeli ambassador to Turkey, and Avivi says that Erdogan’s Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party (AKP) “does not love” Israel, although high-level visits have helped smooth over ties. On the ground, conspiracy theories involving purported Israeli desires to take over Turkish territory have carried some popular weight.
An article published last month in Qatari newspaper Al-Watan insinuated that Turkey has been involved in backroom talks with Syria on the issue for at least a year, however.
Turkish Ambassador to Washington Nabi Sensoy said, “We will be glad to help with any international problems, including the ones in the Middle East.”
After the first day of talks, Israel remains steadfast that Syria renounce its ties with Hamas, a militant group considered terrorists by Israel and the United States. “We want peace with the Syrians, and they know what we expect from them,” said a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Turkey traditionally has maintained friendly relations with both Israel and Syria. Turkey is one of the few countries in the region that admits visitors traveling on Israeli passports, and it shares a border with the latter.
Yet Islamism and ultranationalism have characterized much of Turkish politics over the past five years, coloring policy toward Israel. Two AKP-affiliated Turkish officials declined to meet with Pinhas Avivi, former Israeli ambassador to Turkey, and Avivi says that Erdogan’s Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party (AKP) “does not love” Israel, although high-level visits have helped smooth over ties. On the ground, conspiracy theories involving purported Israeli desires to take over Turkish territory have carried some popular weight.
Headline Link: ‘Israel Opens Peace Talks with Syria’
The last attempt at peace talks between Syria and Israel was in 2000. They failed because “Syria insisted on a full withdrawal, while Israel wanted to use an earlier border between the two states as a reference point. The difference is small in terms of territory, but the 1967 line would give Syria direct access to the Sea of Galilee.”
Source: Financial Times (free registration may be required)
Video: ‘Diplomatic Officials: Syria Must Cut Terror Ties’
Syrian news Web site Champress reported that “unnamed diplomatic sources as saying that Turkish mediation had succeeded and that Erdogan had informed Damascus that he’d won Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s acceptance of a full withdrawal from the Golan in return for a peace treaty with Syria.” The Jerusalem Post writes that Israel insists Syria cut its ties with Hamas, deport Hamas leader Khaled Meshal and members of Hezbollah, and weaken its diplomatic links to Iran.
Source: The Jerusalem Post
Background: Turkey and its Israel policy
Former Israeli Ambassador to Turkey Pinhas Avivi reflected on his four years in the country. He says that Turkey’s majority, Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party (AKP) “does not love” Israel, yet “understands the importance of relations” with the country. The visit of three Turkish cabinet members to Israel was a “turning point” in Israel-AKP relations. Avivi says anti-Semitism is generally thin in the Turkish public’s perception of Israel, but Zionism-centered conspiracy theories are rampant, including the belief that Israel was buying up Turkish land. Devlet Bahçeli, head of the Nationalist Action Party, with whom the AKP has a parliamentary coalition, refused to meet with Avivi, as did Melih Gökçek, the mayor of Ankara.
Source: Turkish Daily News
Andrew Anthony writes for U.K. paper The Guardian about the current tide of Turkish nationalism. Anthony met with former pro soccer player Samim Uygun, a leader of a group of businessmen and politicians, who believes that foreign investment is a threat to Turkish sovereignty and that Israel fancies claims on Turkish territory. “Uygun saw himself on the center right, which set the imagination racing over what a member of the Turkish far-right might sound like.”
Source: The Guardian
Nabi Sensoy, Turkey’s ambassador to the United States, said at a May 19 meeting of the Potomac Institute that he favors encouraging Syria to conduct policy change over cutting it off from international discourse. Sensoy said of Turkey’s role in the region, “we will be glad to help with any international problems, including the ones in the Middle East, if asked.”
Source: Turkish Daily News
Reactions: ‘Assad Says “Ready to Cooperate” in Turkish Israel-Syria Peace Bid’
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad met in Syrian capital Damascus on April 26. Originally intended to be a summit to improve trade between the two countries, Erdogan’s visit coincided with an announcement by Assad that he received an offer from Olmert to withdraw from the Golan Heights in exchange for a peace accord. Assad said after his meeting with Erdogan, “Syria was ready to cooperate with Turkey in any effort that brings security and stability to the region.”
Source: Haaretz
Historical Context: The Israel–Syria conflict
British paper The Guardian has a list of the key developments in the two countries’ relationship, including the 1948 creation of the state of Israel and the 1967 Six-Day War.
Source: The Guardian
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter arrived in Israel on April 13 for a nine-day tour of the Middle East, but Israeli dignitaries snubbed his requests for meetings because of “scheduling problems”—and presumably the former president’s plans to meet with Hamas in Syria. Explained Carter: “I think there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that if Israel is ever going to find peace with … the Palestinians that Hamas will have to be included in the process.”
Source: findingDulcinea
The BBC explains how Syria and Israel are technically at war. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that Syria wants to negotiate a peace treaty, but only if Israel returns the Golan Heights, the territory it annexed from Syria in 1967. Tensions have mounted since last summer’s conflict with Hezbollah, a militant organization that Israel accuses Syria of sponsoring.
Source: The BBC
The Six-Day War, 1967
The prologue to the Six-Day War was Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s decision to send troops into the Sinai, the isthmus joining Egypt to Israel, and to set up a naval blockade around the Red Sea port town of Eilat. In June 1967, Israel acted preemptively to thwart the strike it alleged was being planned by its neighbors.
The Israeli military crushed the armed forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan, destroying most of the Egyptian air force before it had time to scramble one plane. Israel pushed its borders outward, occupying territory in the Sinai, the Golan Heights, the West Bank and Jerusalem.
The Six-Day War is widely seen as a turning point in the Arab–Israeli conflict. It left little doubt that Israel possessed the upper hand militarily, and the Palestinians despaired of receiving effective military assistance.
The Israeli military crushed the armed forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan, destroying most of the Egyptian air force before it had time to scramble one plane. Israel pushed its borders outward, occupying territory in the Sinai, the Golan Heights, the West Bank and Jerusalem.
The Six-Day War is widely seen as a turning point in the Arab–Israeli conflict. It left little doubt that Israel possessed the upper hand militarily, and the Palestinians despaired of receiving effective military assistance.
Source: The Encarta Encyclopedia
Israel’s success in 1967 “has come to look like one of history’s pyrrhic victories,” writes The Economist. The “completeness of the triumph” became a problem for both Israelis and Palestinians. Among the former, it gave birth to a “religious-nationalist movement intent on permanent colonization of the occupied lands.” For the Palestinians, their situation became more desperate: “The 1967 War reunited them under Israeli control and so sharpened their own thwarted hunger for statehood."
Source: The Economist
Related Topic: ‘Israeli Prime Minister Will Resign if Charged with Bribery’
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is under investigation for allegedly taking campaign bribes from Jewish-American businessman Morris Taransky and will resign if official charges are made.
Source: findingDulcinea
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