The sudden death of Syria's President El-Asad has dramatically changed the political landscape in the Middle East. It has the potential to complicate the Syrian-Lebanese- Israeli conflict and further destabilize the region, or to create new opportunities for achieving a comprehensive Arab-Israel

When President Clinton meets with President Hafez Assad in Geneva mid-January, he should use the occasion to announce the removal of Syria from the State Department's list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

It is time for Prime Minister Barak to do some house cleaning if he wants to restore his credibility and achieve peace with Syria and the Palestinians with security and dignity. Sadly, it took the killing of seven Israeli soldiers and large scale of violence across Lebanese borders to rudely awaken

The violent flare-up across the Israeli-Lebanese border between the Irani-Syrian backed Party of God (Hizbullah) and Israeli forces, during the first half of February, may provide the impetus for a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon with or without Syrian agreement.

The violence which ha

The intensified violence between the Irani-backed Party of God (Hizbullah) and Israeli forces in southern Lebanon presents both Israel and Syria with two perspectives: a taste of the horror that will rain on the region should the peace process collapse, and a test for the political will necessary to

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"Full withdrawal for full peace" is an axiom that Israeli and Syrian leaders, along with a clear majority of their public, have long since they accepted. No Syrian leader can accept a partial Israeli withdrawal from the Golan in exchange for warm and normal peace, and no Israeli leader can

As long as Prime Minister Barak delivers a normal peace with Syria, with iron-clad security arrangements, the Israelis will choose the path of peace even if it means a total withdrawal from the Golan Heights and a complete relocation of the settlers.

Demonstrating in Tel Aviv in early January, a

Syria's reluctance to offer Israel immediate peace of reconciliation in exchange for full withdrawal is one of the stumbling blocks that has impeded progress in the current negotiations. Indeed, from the Israeli vantage point, only a warm peace of reconciliation, in which the Israeli and the Syr