Tuesday October 10, 2006

I've Been Thinking:

Assad of Syria thinks Israel is not strong enough to make peace right now.
The sentiment in and of itself coming from the president of Syria, is not at all surprising, so let's take a look at the actual statement.

In an interview with the BBC Assad said:
"In the Barak era we went to talks at Wye River Plantation, but Israel wasn't ready to advance the peace process because of internal problems. The decision about the peace process isn't only dependent on Israel, but also on Washington."

Now we have a problem.
Direct talks between Barak, Clinton and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al Shaara did not take place on the eastern shore of Maryland at the Wye River Plantation. They took place at another presidential retreat in West Virginia, at Shepherdstown.
Shepherdstown, Wye so what's the difference? There is a difference.
Assad had to have been briefed about face-to-face meetings with Israelis. If this basic piece of information was incorrectly transmitted, other pieces of information were probably incorrectly transmitted. Assad cannot be trusted to give a true read on Israel - historically or currently - if his intel and facts are wrong.

The Shepherdstown meetings took place during the first week of January 2000, during Ramadan. The Syrian delegation finished meetings in time to break fast.
Today Ramadan is in full swing again.
The fast might be the only relevant fact connecting then and now.