Israel Offers Diplomacy Lesson

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

CAPITAL JOURNAL
By GERALD F. SEIB

Israel Offers Diplomacy Lesson
June 10, 2008; Page A2

Now that the general election is (at last) upon us, Barack Obama has some explaining to do. Specifically, he will be pressed to explain anew when he would meet with the leaders of rogue states and unfriendly nations, a topic that has caused him some heartburn already. As he ponders how to respond, Sen. Obama might take some tips from the way Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert approached Syria over the past year to open a line of communication. The Olmert overture is a classic case study in how to reach out to an unfriendly leader -- as well as when not to do so.

(snip)

Somewhere between an open invitation to talk and an obstinate refusal to do so there is a wise answer to that debate question. Israel's Mr. Olmert has shown roughly where it lies. Here's how he found it: Israel faces continuing and multiple threats, but the most grave ones come from Iran, whose leaders talk openly of wiping Israel off the map, and neighboring Syria, whose leaders have made an alliance of convenience with Iran.

(snip)

About a year ago, senior Israeli officials say, Mr. Olmert decided that breaking the Syrian-Iranian link was a strategic imperative. Judging there was no way to accomplish that by working through the Israel-haters atop Iran's clerical regime, he decided to reach out instead to the secular president of Syria, Bashar Assad. In short, he sought a dialogue with his enemy. This was the Olmert message to Syria, Israeli officials say: You have an alternative to friendship with Iran, and it can be good for you. Peace with Israel would translate into commercial relations with the West, international help to achieve real economic development, international respect and an end to enmity with the U.S. The price would be cutting ties to Iran, expulsion of terror groups from Damascus and an end to support for those attacking American forces in Iraq.

(snip)

So Mr. Olmert decided to find an indirect, and secret, channel to start the process. He chose Turkey, logical as a go-between because it is an Islamic country rooted in the West because of its economic and political ties to Europe. He flew to Turkey and enlisted Turkish leaders to deliver his message. Mr. Olmert even had the Turks tell Syria what the basis would be for moving on to direct talks. The ground rules would be the same as those of the 1991 Middle East peace conference in Madrid, which both Israel and Syria attended. Crucially, Mr. Olmert also privately told the Bush administration what he was up to, Israeli officials say. The last thing Mr. Olmert needed was for his U.S. friends to be surprised by an overture that ultimately would need American cooperation. The message was delivered -- and Syria accepted it. There followed a series of indirect messages, until word of the talks leaked out last month. When the dialogue became public, Iran was outraged, the U.S. calm. The diplomatic dance continues, though whether it will lead to direct talks between Mr. Olmert and Mr. Assad is hard to know.

What are the lessons for Sen. Obama? The Israeli move confirms the value of reaching out to an enemy, which was the gist of the Obama impulse in answering that debate question. But the Israeli overture also shows that timing is crucial and a clear agenda for any talks essential. It also shows that laying the groundwork to avoid surprises can be a slow and painstaking process.

(snip)


URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121305306266458929.html (subscription)

[sellitman]

1. Very interesting.

Thanks for posting.

[silverlib]

2. "timing is crucial" and "laying groundwork to avoid suprises"...

This hasn't worked out too well for Israel - nor for the Paslestinians. There are many lessons to be learned from this conflict, but I'm not quite sure that this is one of them.

[question everything]

3. You cannot compare the Palestinians, which started as a movement

to contacts with a sovereign state like Syria.

It certainly worked with Egypt in 1978.

[silverlib]

4. The Palestinians are part of a movement?

And when did this movement start?

[question everything]

5. In 1965

When Yasser Arafat established the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

Until the 1967 war, the groups that later started calling themselves Palestinians, as a distinct group, were living under Jordan, Israel and Egypt (mostly) and were called Jordanians, Israelis, and Egyptians.

[bemildred]

6. I'm just guessing, but I would guess that Obama doesn't view Olmert as a good example

to follow, in much of anything.