A glimmer of hope for the Middle East?

Seymour Hersh writes in the most recent issue of the New Yorker that there seem to be some real openings for a comprehensive peace settlement in the Middle East, involving Syria, Israel, Iran, and of course, the United States.

The hope comes from a recent thawing of the tense relationship between Syria and the United States as Assad has made overtures to the US that he might be willing to negotiate. As evidence, Hersh summarizes a series of meetings between Israeli and Syrian officials with the mediation of Turkey as well as the overtures of the Obama administration for unconditional direct talks. The main controversies, in the eyes of the US, swirl around Syria's housing of the Hamas leader in exile, its support of Hezbollah, and Iran's influence in Syria. It seems, however, that Assad's openness to talks with the US have really worried Iran who is afraid to lose its influence over Syria and remain even more isolated in case a deal was reached between Syria and the US. Assad wrote emails to Hersh in which he clearly stated his desire for continuing negotiations with Israel over Golan Heights (which Israel took from Syria in the 1967 war), and which are rich in water, the most precious and scarce resource in the region. Assad has even intimated that he might be willing to consider leasing the area to Israeli access if the latter gave the sovereignty over the area back to the Syrians and evacuated thousands of Israeli settlers who have expanded their illegal settlements.

Hersh's report shows the extent of destructiveness of Dick Cheney even in the last throes of the Bush administration. According to Hersh's reliable and well-connected sources (and I have no doubt about this as he is a superb journalist), during Israel's brutal attack on Gaza in December and early January, then President Elect Obama was on the phone with Israel trying to get them to stop the invasion before his inauguration. According to Hersh, Cheney was also talking to Israel, but telling them not to trust Obama because he was "pro-Palestinian" and would not "make it in the big leagues." From a man who derailed our fight against terror, brought us torture, and destroyed our reputation, this is a pretty gutsy statement.

The election of the far-right wing Netanyahu and his insane foreign Minister Lieberman dim these hopes for peace especially after Lieberman said today that the government is not bounded to follow the Road map for peace that was negotiated in 2007. His history of making explicitly racist statements about Arabs, and demanding that all Arabs in Israel take loyalty oaths, makes it really hard to see how it would be Lieberman who oversees the evacuation of settlers from the West Bank or the Golan Heights.

So for now, everything still seems frozen, but there are some early signs of thawing. It may still not include the Palestinians, but if Obama could score some sort of a deal with the Syrians this would go a long way towards opening that heavy door to peace. The spontaneous meeting of Obama's Afghanistan envoy Holbrooke and an Iranian high official at a meeting in the Hague also points to thawing between the US and Iran.

It also shows that civility goes a long way in international diplomacy.