From UK Foreign Office Website

Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell is visiting Syria on 1-2 April for a series of high level discussions with prominent Syrian politicians and opinion formers.

During the visit Bill Rammell is due to have meetings with Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and Europe Minister Abdul Fattah Ammoura. He will also meet the Minister of Awqaf (Religious Affairs).

Discussions will be wide ranging and will include cooperation on counter terrorism, the Middle East Peace Process and regional issues.

Bill Rammel’s visit is timely as it comes a day after the Arab League Summit in Doha, which was chaired by Syria, and just four months after Foreign Secretary David Miliband visited the region.

Assad has told the Obama Administration that his nation can ease the American withdrawal in Iraq….and the Iranians, in turn, could become an ally in neighboring Afghanistan, as the Obama Administration struggles to deal with the Taliban threat…

Professor Josh,

Your description above seems to me like two (uneducated) urban street thugs asking for protection money from the US “or else”.

If the US was smart, they’d tell these two little runts to “bugger off”.

Hi folks

Do you all remember the debate we had a couple of months ago about the efficacy of nonviolent protest in the West Bank? Here’s some worthwhile reading on the subject.

Also, some big news on the Syria/Israel front.

No one is asking for “protection money” from the US except “Israel,” which has drained the US of over $100 billion. Syria has never asked for a single penny from the US, nor has Iran. Syria believes that relations between nations ought to be based on cooperation over common interests, which is why AP believes its president is “uneducated.” For AP, an “educated” leader would treat other nations as pariahs and use force and intimidation to bully them into accepting whatever conditions he wants to impose, in the process killing hundreds of thousands of people. I mean, how dare Syria tell the US that they have a common interest in building a stable Iraq after the US withdrawal? How “uneducated” and “thuggish” of Bashar al-Assad to make such a suggestion.

QN –

Non-violent Palestinian protest in the West Bank and Gaza? Sure.

The best place for non-violent Palestinian protest is in the “racist”, “Apartheid” Knesset.

Best,

AP

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1238423651844&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Next month’s battle: Bibi vs. Barack (Obama), over Iran. Bibi wants blood. Will Barack stand up to the ex-furniture salesman? Let’s hope so.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075369.html

Racism in Israel? Apartheid? Nah… A bunch of anti-Zionist propaganda.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075348.html

Shai,

Thanks for posting an article that proves my point. The government took action to bring this problem to light, and the government squarely condemned it. My link above doesn’t show a few individual cases of racism, it shows institutional acceptance of anti-Zionist Arabs in government, free to speak their opinions (though not shared by the vast majority). SHow me a country that doesn’t have elements of racism. Show me an Arab country where the opposition is allowed to voice their opionions in government.

But you’re reaching pretty low to judge the whole of Israel by what a few sick T-shirts some IDF enlisted printed.

But since you brought up the issue of “sick humor”, your comment on QN’s website could be considered “bad taste” as well, especially for the many Holocaust survivors living in Israel:

Bibi swore he will only go to Damascus once he learns how to say in Arabic “Ich bin ein Berliner”.

I wouldn’t judge Israelis by your brand of strange humor as well.

Meanwhile Hamas’ charter is still founded in killing any Jew. I wonder if that includes you?

I remain very skeptical of Seymour Hersh’s journalism generally because of the outlandish claims that he makes.

Just a little hard to believe:
“The Obama transition team also helped persuade Israel to end the bombing of Gaza and to withdraw its ground troops before the Inauguration. According to the former senior intelligence official, who has access to sensitive information, “Cheney began getting messages from the Israelis about pressure from Obama” when he was President-elect. Cheney, who worked closely with the Israeli leadership in the lead-up to the Gaza war, portrayed Obama to the Israelis as a “pro-Palestinian,” who would not support their efforts (and, in private, disparaged Obama, referring to him at one point as someone who would “never make it in the major leagues”)”
–

Akbar Palace,

As per comment 2, that exactly what is happening. The thugs in Damascus, turn up the heat in Lebanon, Gaza, or Iraq when others won’t do their dirty work. Now they are offering up, a smooth exit from Iraq to Obama. With the elections in Lebanon approaching and the International Tribunal on the Hariri assassination progressing, we can only hope that they will keep their hitmen at bay.

This new government is starting “well”

17:14 Lieberman: If you want peace, prepare for war (Haaretz)
(17:10 Abbas: Lieberman doesn`t believe in peace, so PA can`t deal with him (AP))
15:48 FM Lieberman: Israel not bound by Annapolis commitments (Reuters)

FM Lieberman will be a success in his new “occupation”. A couple of months with statements like this and nobody wants to meet him or other Israeli ministers.

Dear Shai,
Before the election you were somehow optimist of BiBi, lately you sound disappointed, is there any particular reason? and do you still believe that BiBi can deliver anything and why?
Thank you

AP, you have a weird way of thinking:
Speaking in German would offend you and any Holocaust victim who might still alive in his 90th, while those words were Kennedy’s not of Hitler. at the same time you have no problem to see a racist gangster uneducated immigrant being a FM, or worst, you justify killing thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese in the last couple years not 60 years ago, WOW, you are going down the hill of racism really fast, you better use your rational thinking breaks, I bet they are brand new, aren’t they? USE THEM.

Chris’ assessment of S. Hersch is accurate. This man’s journalism is oulandish, and this is not the first time he makes use of half truths to spin an argument in favor of thugish regimes (Syria/Iran) that should actually be shunned by the whole world. However, S. Hersch’s style of journalism is quite suitable for the author of SyriaComment. They both belong to the same ‘major league’.

Akbar Palace,

Who said “all of Israel” should be judged for those racist t-shirts? It is you who’s getting all upset by the example I gave. Sure, every country has racism. Question is what people DO with it.

As JAD pointed out, and of course you would be the one to miss it, the Bibi joke was about mimicking John F. Kennedy’s famous supportive words to West Berliners in 1963, shortly after the Berlin Wall was erected by the Soviets. I don’t know of many Holocaust survivors who were offended by that, do you?

JAD,

I’m trying not to be pessimistic about Netanyahu, giving him a chance to prove us all wrong, by becoming the next Menachem Begin. You know the funny thing, and I’m disclosing this secret prematurely (because Yossi and I will likely write something about our Golan visit soon), we heard residents on the Golan say they’re much more afraid now, with Netanyahu as PM, than they were before. I won’t disclose everything just yet, and let you try to figure out why they said that… 🙂

Look, in many ways I’m actually happy that the new government is starting out quite hawkish – indeed perhaps more hawkish than we’ve ever had. This is the first time in Israel’s history, when a new government does not lay out a clear political agenda with a regional policy. And we see what Lieberman is already saying. This is good, because it will leave no doubt whatsoever in everyone’s mind about what Israel is becoming, and who is leading her. Imagine Livni and Kadima would have won and formed the government (Center-Left, Center-Right, whatever). Once again, they would have “lulled” Washington and the Europeans to sleep, by yapping about two-state, peace, equality, you name it. And another 4 years would have gone by, with nothing but further suffering for the Palestinians, further instability for the region, maybe another war or two…

This way, if there is a chance on earth that someone (Obama?) will place enough pressure on Israel to shape up, it’s now, or soon. Let’s look at this seemingly-extreme situation as also an opportunity. I prefer to look at it this way… Maybe I’ll be proven right… 🙂

Who said “all of Israel” should be judged for those racist t-shirts?

Shai,

It is pretty clear to me that when you made the following statement…

Racism in Israel? Apartheid? Nah… A bunch of anti-Zionist propaganda.

…and then link to the T-shirt incident directly below it, you were condemning “All of Israel”.

You didn’t say, “Racism in the IDF“, or “Sick humour in some IDF units“.

But thanks for not judging “All of Israel”. Who knew?;)

Lieberman is a great student of military philosophy (not). His recent statement (“If you want peace, prepare for war”) is a Russian-accent repeat of the famous “Si vis pacem, para bellum”, by Flavius Vegetius the Roman military writer. I say he gets the first shoe within 60 days from now… 🙂

Akbar,

Now you’re going to tell me about the IDF, like you did about Israeli-Only roads in the Territories? You know nothing about either, so I suggest you pick a different topic. Just a suggestion, between friends.

Thank you Shai,
Looking forward to your Jolan piece, I hope that you didn’t visit AP’s rich and happy friends over there.

IDF issue; Being an honest human doesn’t mean you are a traitor, does it?
http://draykcab.wordpress.com/

JAD,

“I hope that you didn’t visit AP’s rich and happy friends over there.”

You mean the well-to-do Arabs and Druze? 🙂

IDF issue: The dishonest and apathetic are the traitors.

Thank you for posting that blog. Maybe AP can tell us how “easy to navigate” those checkpoints are (for the Palestinians).

Jad,

Rest assured that Shai and I had lots of fun in our latest visit to the Golan. It’s simply beautiful. The only thing we weren’t sure about was how much teasing would be appropriate, but some teasing is ought to be healthy for us (Syrians and Israelis) to start thinking practically and creatively…

Shai and Yossi:

In my previous trips to Israel I seem to have neglected much of the North, outside of Haifa. Any suggestions on what to see in the Golan next time I visit Israel?

Chris,

Patience… patience… 😉

We’ll write about it soon, I promise.

Chris,

I agree that Seymour Hersh’s reporting can be outlandish, but I don’t understand why it’s so hard to believe that Cheney would disparage Obama to Israeli officials. It’s no secret that Cheney is a polarizing figure, and we’ve already seen him publicly attack Obama since he left the VP’s office. Nor do I have a hard time believing that the incoming Obama Adminisration pressured Israel to end the Gaza offensive – do you think it’s coincidental that it ended right before Obama’s inaguration?

Chris,

There are so many beautiful place to visti up north:

http://www.jtours.co.il/israelsights.html

My favorites:

1.) We visited the Katzrin winery (a must)

2.) Safed

3.) Banyas (and boating, Tel Dan)

4.) Rosh Haniqrah

5.) Capernium

6.) Mt. of Beatitudes

7.) Hamat Gader

8.) Sea of Galilee/Tiberius

…

Prof. Landis writes:

The main debate at this stage is whether Israel and the US should demand Syria make a clean break with Iran or whether it is wiser, and perhaps more realistic, to try to bring both along in a larger deal where everyone gets something.

I think the overal dynamics are somewhat more complicated than this. The US seems set on drawing Syria away from Iran to give it more leverage over negotiating the nuclear issue. March’s month long Saudi courting of Syria suggests that the Saudis were on board with this ploy as well, though the lack of any consummation of King Abdollah’s efforts on Monday in Doha doesn’t bode well for the Saudi-Syrian rapprochement. What seems to be happening, as I argue here , is that the Syrians want to bring Iran more deeply into the Arab fold, while reassuring the Western aligned Arab states that this is broadly in Arab “interest”. Thus, unlike Prof. Landis, I see that the US and the Saudis have made their choice that Syria ought to break with Iran and the Syrians are apparently trying push the alternative agenda of a “larger deal where everyone gets something”.

Chris and Majid
Seems that you two prefer the journalistic style and ethics of Judith Miller. Keep it up, you may be rewarded with a place on the neo-neocon islamophobic, antiarab lectures circles. I heard that you can get a lot of money doing that. Just ask Ahmad Chalabi. He can give you the address of some paymasters who like to be duped. How precious.

Both of you speak of freedom and democracy, and yet, your posts, when read in their totality are loud and clear defense of establishment rhetoric and attack on free thinking journalists who happen to expose the political and intellectual corruption of your cherished positions. Was the mai-lai outlandish journalism, was exposing abou ghraib also outlandish journalism, was telling the world about the constant bombing of Iraqi cities during the first three years of the crime against humanity in iraq half truth, were the facts about excesses of black water and the jailhouse mercinary thugs staffing these war for profit outfits outlandish, and was exposing the campaign against iraqi intellectuals and scientists a lie. Seymore Hirsh is one of the very few remaining true journalists within the bloated, spineless US media. He scares poeple like you as he shows us all how blind, dishonest, and criminal are the actions and policies you defend. Keep it up, the criminals of the world will always need enablers like you, it make their attempts to silence the truth easier.

Shai and Yossi

Can the Golan become an area of cultural, economic, and intellectual cross feterlization of our two nations?

I recon that the golan of today is not like the golan of 67 and its inevitable return to the motherland must be viewed creatively and in an out of the box manner, but that would take very bold and brave thinking on both sides. Unfortunately, such thinking is a most rare commodity nowadays. One can envision the establishment of a joint agricultural institute focussing on “semi-arid high-lands agriculture” sometime in the not-so-distant future, but probably beyond my lifespan.

Dear OTW,

I’m sorry Yossi and I haven’t yet reported on our visit to the Golan. Yossi’s visit to Israel is almost over, and we will do so shortly (both on SC and on our blog). We’ve jotted down notes, so we won’t forget anything.

As to your question and suggestion – of course it is a wonderful idea, and in’shalla will become a reality. I can’t think of a better way to help heal the wounds that have plagued our two nations for too long. But by the way, a creative project in the form of a Peace Park on 1/3 of the territory has already been suggested, by Syria! Although it was briefly reported on in Israel, most Israelis don’t know this (I’ve asked many, and they don’t know, or remember). It is actually a very important initiative, that would enable Israelis to maintain certain businesses on this Park, to enter/leave every day without visas (and Syrians the same), and to essentially own and operate their business investments abroad, in Syria. For many, this could be an “acceptable” compromise. That might change the 70%-30% ratio against-for withdrawal, when the time comes.

OTW, it WILL happen in your lifetime and mine. I’m sure of it. I’m not sure if we’ll have to endure another regional war beforehand, God-willing we won’t, but the younger generation is quickly growing impatient with “our” nonsense and the addiction we seem to have to the evils of the past. Our youth today are thinking light years ahead of us, always looking forward. It is only us, and our ancient, conservative, and impotent leaders, who are still holding on to the hand-brake. But not for long. Just as our kids aren’t waiting for us to teach them about computers (as if we could), our future leaders won’t wait for us to teach them about politics. I see it not only in youth organizations that belong to the traditional-Left, but also in ones from the Right. Regular (voluntary) visitors to some Jewish-Arab organizations in Israel are Likud-youth members, who probably recognize that the demon might not be so bad, or that it may be necessary to live with it after all. Perhaps after a few meetings, they begin to consider that “the demon” might be within us.

I’m hopeful, and even more so when I see how many administration and Congress members are already visiting Syria and meeting with Bashar. There is no doubt whatsoever that U.S.-Syrian relations are already changing, and that Syria is about to play an important role in helping solve much of the Mideast conflict. Israel will have no choice. We’ll have to play by the rules (that Washington will set), or be out of the game. I’m not sure we can afford to do the latter.

AP
I have been sensing in some of your recent posts, especially those after your last visit to Israel a touch of rationalist approach to problems. Yet you seem to have hard time getting over knee jerk reactions and you continue to resort to sophomoric “but your are worst” tactics. Please think a little about details before jumping to call others thugs and uneducated. After all, you have two or three awe struck followers on this site who eagerly await your hint to move the discussion into one direction or another, you owe Chris and Majid at least more thoughtful arguments for them to advocate.

Syria, to no avail, asked the US and Europe for help in establishing modern monitoring network to ensure that its borders with Iraq are not as porous. With such long borders, Syria’s antiquated surveillance equipment (thanks to the embargo) makes such a job impossible at best. Take it a notch up, and think of the much longer and porous Iran’s tribal borders with both Pakistan and Afghanistan. These borders are becoming an easy route for drug smuggling and for criminal activities brought back to life as a result of the “educated” world failures in Afghanistan. These drugs are far beyond the market capacity of the region, and they end up in European countries as well as in Israel through countries like Jordan and Syria after passing through the newly created routes in Iraq, which by now have replaced the traditional “Turkish” route due to the lawlessness in ‘liberated” Iraq. We all know the collusion between Terrorism and Drugs, and I continue to be baffled by the self destructive attitude of our policy makers who continue to act in manners counter to our own national interests not to mention the interest of the global community simply because they are forbidden to talk to Israel’s adversaries before these adversaries submit to the demands of the right wing nuts in Israel and the US.

The region and the world will pay for Bush-co crimes for a long time to come. I guarantee you that future generations will not thank you for enabling and defending these policies, nor would Israeli children be thankful for your efforts to delay the inevitable abandonment of the racist policies and practices of their own country for fifty more years. Isn’t it time to stop limiting their choices. I find the attempt to demonize anyone who dares to expose Israel’s problems anything but democratic. The sites you keep plucking posts from are well known racist sites with a single racist agenda and that is demonizing Arabs and Muslims and discrediting and intimidating anyone who dares say otherwise. How consistent with your calls for democracy is it for you to associate your own intellectual arguments with the likes of a well known anti-freedom anti-intellectual; discredited daniel pipes, who has become a toxic persona non-grata on many “semi-respectable” talk shows mainly because of his nervous attempts to silence and intimidate free thinking on campuses. He and his gang have been exposed as racists xenophobes and as anti intellectual tyrants with comic hysterical insecurities and anxieties. What is next, are you going to quote anne coulter, or michell malkin.

I would like to leave you with a quote from a well known libertarian “Ralph Raico”, with whom i usually have many disagreements, who wrote

“In 1925, Churchill wrote: “The story of the human race is war.” This, however, is untrue; potentially, it is disastrously untrue. Churchill lacked any grasp of the fundamentals of the social philosophy of classical liberalism. In particular, he never understood that, as Ludwig von Mises explained, the true story of the human race is the extension of social cooperation and the division of labor. Peace, not war, is the father of all things.”

Shai,

You would like this ,

James Backer said today on GPS with Fareed Zackariah/ CNN ,that Netanyahu does not get enough credit for his pragmatism and that a deal with Syria is at hand and could change everything and bring peace to Israel , That is what he thinks Netanyahu will do.

Norman,

Well, I hope Netanyahu’s listening. Because Bush Jr. didn’t… (remember the Baker Report?)