Original source URLs: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022707G.shtml http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/20070226.FIG000000300_l_armee_israelienne_et_le_mossad_divergent_sur_la_syrie.html The Israeli Army and Mossad Disagree About Syria By Marc Henry Le Figaro Monday 26 February 2007 The military deem that Bachar al-Assad's offers of dialogue must be investigated, while Mossad sees them as nothing but a simple ruse. Syria is making the Israeli leadership more and more nervous. A very intense debate opposes those who deem a war inevitable against the more optimistic who think that negotiations are possible. As evidence of these uncertainties, Meir Dagan, head of Mossad, the secret services, and General Amos Yadlin, who heads up the Israeli military intelligence services, presented their annual reports yesterday to the Council of Ministers. According to the press, the military allow it to be understood that President Bachar al-Assad's appeals for discussions with Israel deserve to be considered, while Mossad sees them as nothing but a simple ruse by a desperate man trying to play for time. The two main Israeli intelligence services, whose rivalry is notorious, are, on the other hand, in agreement as they note with concern that Syria has been engaged in an all-out arms race since the end of last summer's Israeli operation in Lebanon against the Hezbollah militia. Thus, Damascus has obtained medium-range missiles from Iran that are capable of reaching any site on Israeli territory. Another worrying sign: the Israeli daily, Haaretz, quoting senior military officials, reported last week on troop movements and reinforcements in the vicinity of the front line close to the Golan Heights. Ehud Olmert Criticized Ehud Olmert can't allow himself the least error in assessing the situation. Criticized on all sides for the way he conducted the war in Lebanon, the prime minister is in freefall in the polls. He recently spent seven hours before the members of a Commission of Inquiry that next month must designate those responsible for a long list of failures associated with this operation that has left a bitter taste for Israelis. The General Staff chief, General Dan Haloutz, has already drawn his own conclusions by resigning. On the defensive, Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz anxiously await the verdict that could determine their own political futures. It is difficult in this situation to take the slightest initiative - all the more so as everyone knows that returning the Golan Heights, where about 20,000 Israelis have moved, constitutes the price to pay for peace with Syria. This is a concession that Ehud Olmert cannot allow himself to so much as suggest. Wanting to retain what remains of his image as a moderate, Amir Peretz, who is also the head of the Labor Party, is trying to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. Yesterday, he repeated that Israel "must not close the door to negotiations with Syria, even as it prepares for war." To complicate everything, the United States has invited itself to weigh in on this matter. Having decided to sanction Syria - accused of allowing transit to Islamists en route to Iraq to fight American troops and of wanting to destabilize the Lebanese government by supporting Hezbollah - George W. Bush wants to tighten the stranglehold on Bachar al-Assad. To dot the i's, American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, has - according to the Israeli press - demanded that Ehud Olmert renounce the least softness of will that might incline towards feeling out the situation with Damascus. It was a call to order from the big American ally that the prime minister cannot allow himself to treat with contempt. -- -------------------------------------------------------- Escaping the Matrix website http://escapingthematrix.org/ cyberjournal website http://cyberjournal.org Community Democracy Framework: http://cyberjournal.org/DemocracyFramework.html subscribe cyberjournal list mailto:•••@••.••• Posting archives http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/
