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What's Behind Bashar al-Assad's Peace Offensive?

(Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies/Tel Aviv University) Eyal Zisser - Bashar's willingness to go beyond his father's conditional commitments, e.g., on the matter of relations with Israel, undoubtedly stems from a sense of pressure and deep distress - the result of the new regional realities in the aftermath of the war in Iraq and America's determination to push Syria hard on issues of concern to Washington, particularly the war on terror and weapons of mass destruction. Bashar has repeatedly shown that he is committed to his father's legacy, not only with respect to the idea of a peace agreement with Israel, but also with respect to the price tag. But "continuity" also means no real change in underlying attitudes toward Israel. Like his father, Bashar and those around him (as well as many others in the region) see Israel as an illegitimate entity constituting, by its very existence, a threat to the Arab world. Moreover, their anti-Zionist and anti-Israel pronouncements are often tinged with anti-Semitism, given public expression in recent years by senior Syrian officials, including Bashar himself.
2004-01-12 00:00:00
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