To the last inch

Truth must be told: Syria deal would entail full withdrawal from Golan Heights

Eitan Haber|Published: 05.26.08 , 18:03

Over the last weekend, and apparently this week too, we shall have to be bombarded by politicians and journalists claiming “we knew all about it, we knew all about it.” Indeed, there were some media reports regarding indirect talks with Syria via Turkey, but there was nobody who had the whole story figured out.

This is the nature of big stories. They are formulated behind closed-doors and very few people know about them. The fact is that none of the State of Israel’s big peace (or war) stories made it to the media prematurely.

Nobody knew about Moshe Dayan’s contacts with the Egypt’s Hassan Tuhami ahead of the peace treaty with Egypt; nobody knew about the Oslo talks (at least not in the media,) or about the talks in Amman with King Hussein – and was there any journalist or politician who knew of the exact zero hour of the Six-Day War? Or anyone who knew about the time and day of the Yom Kippur War?

The unequivocal fact is that politicians (the ones who don’t need to know) and journalists have not known thus far, and will apparently not know in the future about the “big stories” in the areas of policy and security. The “big” history is made out of range of the cameras and microphones.

If this continues, Israeli citizens, and first and foremost Golan Heights residents, may wake up one of these (upcoming?) days and face a dramatic announcement, after the deed is done. This is what happened with Begin, with Rabin, and with Sharon and the disengagement. Olmert will try to follow in their footsteps.

We should know the following at this time already: When the moment comes, if it comes, the price Israel will have to pay would be “difficult to bear,” as politicians tend to utter euphemistically. Or in simple language: The entire Golan Heights. All of it (and just to avoid misunderstanding, this is not what I want to see happen. This is simply what will be happening.)

It appears that all the tricks and shticks won’t make a difference here. Assad Sr. already made it clear: We want everything. And his son will follow in his footsteps.

What about Judea and Samaria?

Why? Because no Arab leader today can allow himself to accept less than “everything.” No Arab leader can accept even one inch less than what Egypt’s Anwar Sadat got in 1979 as part of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty.

The example of the enclave of Taba is still before us: There were some in Israel who believed that Sadat would give up on a few dunams; after all, he received thousands of square kilometers. But that wasn’t the case. Sadat demanded and got everything, to the last inch.

An Egyptian leader once explained to an Israeli prime minister: Assad cannot give up an inch, because the millions of his subjects will ask him, and rightfully so: Why did you wait for 30 years after the peace with Egypt in order to get less than what the Egyptians got?

Therefore, Olmert, who decided to take the path of peace with Syria, had to (and apparently did) take into account the fact that he will have to hand back territory to the last inch.

And wait a second: Isn’t this also a precedent and model for what we can expect in Judea and Samaria? Every inch of Judea and Samaria?