A war of words flared up between Syria and Israel last week beyond the usual bravado, but the military front remained tranquil. Observers believe the bickering will further obstruct the already frozen peace process, reports Bassel Oudat in Damascus Heated threats were exchanged between Syria and Israel all through last week, using language which is uncommon in political circles, even among enemies. While these intimidations did not go beyond words, many observers believe they are indicative of the gaping chasm between Damascus and Tel Aviv, as they await Washington's guidance to upgrade indirect negotiations between them into direct talks. During a meeting with senior Israel Defence Forces officers on 1 February, Defence Minister Ehud Barak warned against the danger of an "all-out war in the region" between Israel and Syria, if the two sides do not reach a political settlement. This is especially true since the indirect talks sponsored by Turkey over the past two years have come to a grinding halt. "After such a war, the two sides will return to the negotiating table and will deliberate over the same issues they have been debating for 15 years," Barak predicted. The Turkey-sponsored dialogue between the two collapsed during Israel's war on Gaza in December 2008. Damascus has since informed Ankara several times of its desire to relaunch talks, but was rebuffed by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government, which refuses to withdraw from Syrian territories under any circumstances. As Barak was warning his senior officers, Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Al-Moqdad called on the world community to "pressure Israel to stop violating international law and UN resolutions, and force it to end its occupation of Arab land, including the Golan Heights in Syria." The next day, on 2 February, Israel held military exercises in the Naqab Desert, simulating war with Syria. These included air raids using F-16s to quickly and efficiently target Syrian land-to-air defences and anti-tank missiles. Tel Aviv also practised a land battle in topography similar to that bordering the two countries, especially in the Golan. Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since 1967, and after a decade of US-sponsored negotiations between the two sides in the 1990s, talks completely broke down in 2000. Damascus insists that Tel Aviv must first agree to the principle of complete withdrawal from the Golan Heights as a precondition to restarting direct dialogue. It appears that Israel's military exercises unsettled Syria to a great degree. Less than 24 hours later, during a joint news conference on 3 February between Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallim and his Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos in Damascus, the Syrian official used language which is unusual in Syrian diplomatic circles. Al-Muallim described Israeli leaders as thugs and warned Tel Aviv against launching war against Syria. Israel would be "planting the seed of war in the region," he retorted. "I say to them, stop playing the role of thugs in this region. They threaten Gaza and then southern Lebanon and then Iran, and now Syria." Al-Muallim continued: "Israelis, do not test the will of the Syrians. You know full well that a war at this time will make its way to your cities," insinuating direct missile attacks. The Syrian official cautioned Tel Aviv to "return to your senses and choose the path of peace. I repeat: this war would spread far and wide, whether it is waged against southern Lebanon or Syria; and I very much doubt our generation would ever see peace talks after that." During his meeting with Moratinos, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad also said that, "Israel is pushing the region towards war, not peace." Al-Assad accused Israel of "not being serious about achieving peace." Moratinos, who is considered an ally of both sides, was touring the region and asserted that he "did not hear the drums of war in either Syria or Israel." The Spanish official added, "on the contrary, I heard statements of peace," implying that the war of words was nothing more than that. But Moratinos's reassurances were not enough for Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who launched an unprecedented personal attack against Al-Assad. Lieberman, too, overstepped the boundaries of diplomacy by saying the president would lose the war and his country if he provoked Israel. The Israeli official further escalated the tirade: "Al-Assad must know that if he goaded Israel he will lose his seat of power; and I hope Damascus understands this message very well," Lieberman told a business forum at Bar Ilan University on 4 February. In a highly personalised threat against the Syrian president, Lieberman asserted: "If there is a new war, you will not only lose it but you and your family will also lose your reign over power." He further asserted that Al-Assad "does not care about lost lives or human values; he only cares about power." Lieberman added that, "Al-Muallim directly threatened Israel, and hence overstepped a red line; this cannot be ignored." The Israeli foreign minister, who is a member of the ultranationalist right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu Party, stated that, "anyone who thinks that regional compromises will remove Syria from the axis of evil is mistaken. Syria must come to realise that it needs to abandon its demand for withdrawal from the Golan Heights." Israeli newspapers noted that the last statement is directed to Lieberman's cabinet peers, especially those working towards reaching a settlement with Syria. Some of these newspapers believe that the message is especially targeting those whom he believes are in secret talks and communications aiming at relaunching negotiations with Damascus, namely Netanyahu and Barak. On the same day that the fiery threats were made, Tel Aviv sent a message to Damascus contradicting Lieberman, stating that it is willing to accept mediation to relaunch peace talks between the two sides. Late at night, Netanyahu's office issued a statement describing the declarations by Syria's leadership as "very regretful... and the reality is the complete opposite." It added that Israel has "repetitively declared its willingness to begin peace talks with Syria, anywhere in the world, and at any time without preconditions." This assertion, again, demonstrated Israel's refusal to commit to withdrawing from the Golan Heights at the end of negotiations. The statement accused Syria of "placing obstacles, and blocking talks and possible settlements which would lead to peace and security for all parties." In an attempt to further curtail the impact of Lieberman's outburst, Netanyahu's office issued a statement asking cabinet members to refrain from discussing Syria in the media. However, Damascus did not scale back its media attacks on Israelis, describing them as "idiots" and confirming Syria's readiness for any form of war. The bickering coincided with the publication of statements by Al-Assad in the American newspaper The New Yorker, in which he described Israeli behaviour as "childish". "If the Israelis said we will regain [control] over all of the Golan, we will sign a peace treaty," stated Al-Assad. "But they cannot expect me to give them the peace they want. We begin with the land, not with the peace." So far, Israel has refused two things. First, giving the Golan back to Syria, or "peace talks without preconditions"; second, accepting Turkey as a mediator of indirect peace talks because it considers Ankara as biased. Despite an escalating war of words in recent days between the two capitals, there is no sign that military tensions are mounting on either side of the border. Neither Hizbullah in Lebanon nor the Palestinian Hamas, who are both allies of Syria, have responded noticeably to the bickering. At the same time, most European observers and officials believe that the verbal altercations between Syria and Israel are a "show of bravado" which will pipe down "in a day or two", because neither side really wants to go to war. While the guns remain silent, as they have been in the past three decades, the acerbic words are getting in the way of a peace which all parties are trying to revive.
