Keys to Israeli-Syrian success

Our campus is well-known for engaging in divisive, and for that matter, derisive events geared around everything Middle East-related. Because the Arab-Israeli conflict is such a hot-button topic for all parties, academic and constructive conversations often become very ugly very quickly. The same can be said about the conversations of governments directly involved in the conflict.

It is easy to forget that even when states are not officially talking to each other, they still probably are. In a recent online edition of the Jerusalem Post, I spotted an article announcing that over 550 Druze religious leaders and elders living in northern Israel had begun a five-day trip into Syria to see religious holy sites and reunite with family members who live across the border. The Druze, not known by many outside the Middle East, are a religious minority group in Israel. The religion split from Islam in the 11th century, and the followers are spread mainly throughout Israel, Syria, and Lebanon, although there are diaspora communities around the world.

Over the past few months, the Obama administration has asked neighboring Arab states to grant confidence-building measures to Israel—like allowing Israel to open cultural attaché offices in various Middle Eastern cities and granting it flyover airspace en route to other destinations. These requests were made so that the Israeli government might pacify its hesitant constituency when it makes concessions—specifically halting settlement activity in the West Bank. The Arab states, however, have overwhelmingly rejected this notion and outright refused to cooperate with President Obama.

It is noteworthy, then, to discuss why this specific measure—taken on jointly by both Israelis and Syrians—is not receiving greater publicity. The two governments aren’t officially talking to each other, and the article stresses that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been shuttling back and forth figuring out the minutiae. Yet, surely there must have been significant cooperation between the two governments—i.e. within their defense and interior ministries—to successfully pull off a stunt of this size. We’re not talking about an individual family crossing the border and receiving special immunity—we’re talking about hundreds of people with Israeli citizenship and full rights, many of whom have served in the Israeli military, being bussed around for almost a week in what is officially enemy territory. Remember, Syria remains in a perpetually declared “state of war” with Israel.

According to the Post article, the Druze Member of Knesset Ayoub Kara helped orchestrate this diplomatic opening. In fact, it is part of his greater platform to organize similar monthly border openings. Although these border openings actually have happened for fourteen consecutive years, this would be an ideal time to emphasize them. After all, if he were to succeed in opening the borders, even bimonthly, surely many would consider that a significant confidence-building measure that could jump-start future talks.

For any sort of progress to be made, these sorts of steps must always be taken when made available: small tokens of cooperation now open up larger options down the road. In the case of Syrian-Israeli relations, this type of measure might eventually lead to bi- or trilateral negotiations for peace. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and Syria refuses to negotiate unless Israel completely evacuates the Golan and returns it to Syrian hands. However, Israelis fear that giving back the region, where much of Israel’s natural, flowing water resources begin, would be suicidal—not only would Syria be able to block already-scarce water sources from entering Israel, but it could poison the waters, use them for sewage diversion, or take other hostile actions. But, if you build trust through cooperative gestures, you can negotiate on a serious level. If you solve the water disputes, you solve the Golan Heights. To grossly oversimplify this complicated topic, many, including me, believe that there is a way for Israel to give back almost all of the Golan to Syria and still leave its water security completely intact. If you solve the Golan Heights, you make peace with Syria.

In a scene where prospects for peace are bleak, one has to believe that big things can happen when small steps are taken. A signal of cooperation between Israel and Syria is always a sign for optimism, but only if the two nations capitalize on the little things to further the greater, underlying peace process will such signals have any meaning.

The author is a student at the School of General Studies and the Jewish Theological Seminary. He is a representative on the Student Governing Board and a board member of the Hillel Israel Committee.