Making peace would make much more sense

Abstract

There are two narratives about what happened in the Clinton-Assad summit in Geneva. Ours - the only one heard in Israel (and on CNN) - is that Assad just doesn't want peace. "The masks have been unveiled", said Barak, "the Syrian position is not ripe for the decisions which are necessary in order to reach a peace treaty". Assad is insisting on those 500 meters in order to humiliate us and derail the process. The second narrative can be witnessed in Robert Fisk's report in the British "Independent": "The two men held three hours of talks, through interpreters, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva, with the Syrian leader patiently explaining he was not going to fall into the same 'peace' trap as the Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat. He will not make peace with Israel before guaranteeing the return of all of the occupied Golan, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. Mr Arafat signed a peace settlement then failed to gain a majority of the occupied West Bank or a capital in Jerusalem."