More incessant babbling about ''peace'' - don't politicians have anything else to talk about? Who do they think they're fooling with this useless babble, this fraudulant charade? And do we need Arlen Spector, the now unemployed weasel as a mediator? Can't he find a job in America? This must be the 1,000th time some goof talks about some nonexistant change in Syria's position, they can't figure out that Assad is playing with their heads, he can't make peace, with or without the Golan, that's just not what his regime is all about.

The only thing that keeps the peace is the IDF. It's called deterrence, otherwise known as fear of getting the crap beat out of you. What keeps the peace is dictator Assad's fear of losing power, of regime change due to military defeat. The day Assad thinks that the balance of power has changed, we will be attacked, with or without the Golan, with or without a peace treaty. That's reality.

in the name of political expediency. Oh, and why do you even consider negotiating with Syria? Negotiating over what? Current lasting peace?

The Golan is n the rightful hands of its owners. Launch attacks and you lose that territory. If you don't like the rules....then put down your weapons. That is the problem with the Syrians and the arabs in general...you have to understand that everything has a price. I agree with Terry and prefer the IDF as a mediator....they do a great job.

Syria wants Israel to relinquish a part of the Land that historically was part of the Land of Israel, and it wishes to do so by way of squeezing Israel further by preventing Israel from having the sources of water it needs and the use of land to become once again a launching ground to attack the nation-state of the Jewish people and finally, annihilate it. Only after controlling the Golan for two years as a sovereign state, Syria used the Golan as the basis from which to attack the Israel on the very first day of its existence, hoping to extinct its life, 1948. Until 1967 Syria kept using the Golan as the launching ground from which terrorists were sent to murder Israeli Jews in their homes and fields, and didn't cease bombarding Jewish farming communities with mortars and canon fire. In 1967, as part of a Muslim-Arab coalition of states, Syria attacked Israel once again, hoping to achieve what the Muslim-Arab coalition of states 19 years earlier couldn't: Israel's total demise. And finally, in 1973, also as part of a coalition of two Muslim-Arab sates Syria attacked Israel on Yom Kippur, hoping to wipe the Jewish state off the face of earth. Presently, Syria is an active member of the Iran-Hizballah-IslamicJihad-Hamas-Syria coalition, backed up by both the Arab League and Turkey, calling for the annihilation of Israel and its wiping off the face of earth through either conventional or non-conventional weapons. It is not clear to me, why would anyone deal with this country whose pattern of behavior is clear, except if Syria wishes to achieve an accommodation of peaceful coexistence with the nation-state of the Jewish people, that is peace for peace.

Assad - another Iranian poodle - has yet to pay the price for arming Hezbollah. His time will come.

He will be gone by January.

Israel sent a message to Assad by not holding exercises in the Golan Heights on the border. It was a clear message. They were held in the North instead.

Zionist Jews want land not peace. Why give up the stolen Golan Heights when you do not have to? 40,000 Jews now live there, illegally.

Now in Syria there is a new of generation would demanding Bashar al-Assad to retook the Golan by any means whether (war or peace) thank good for there is a change in Syrian policy it must use this opportunity so that everyone living in area safely

The persistance of the Assad family hold on their property called Syria has been based on playing alternatively with opposing countries & getting bribes to shift their policies one way or an other. And of course, using violence whenever necessary like in any authoritarian regime. You have only to remember the sponsered assassinations of politicians in Lebanon & Assad's father extermination of 30 000 Islamists who were crushed in the shelling & destruction of Syrian town. So the winds having perhaps slightly changed direction, Assad-the-Vane his pointing his nose in the new direction.

Do you know where the word "Golan" comes from # 1 in far away Singapore (far far from the Middle East and the people of the area)? It comes from Hebrew, the language of the Jews/Israelis. In Arabic, a language that developed in Arabia after Hebrew (far far to Golan's south), it is called "Jolan" which is the way they called it when they invaded and illegally occupied our country in the 7th century AD. If you put 1 and 1 together in Singapore, do you also come out with 2? Also look at the remains of 200 archeological sites in the Golan that were excavated from the 19th century to the present, and you will find Hebrew letters carved into stone. When you add 1 and 2 in Singapore, do you also get 3? Look at the ratio of Arab inhabitants to Jewish inhabitants before 1967 and even before 1948, and you see that most of the inhabitants were Jews followed by Druze and Arabs. When you add 1 and 3 in Singapore, do you also get 4? In addition to the wiring of your cognitive intelligence in Singapore, how is your reality contact there?

Syrian can not return all the dead Israeli soldiers, it should not expect the Return of Golan.

With no Golan for Syria, but with possible visiting rights.

how funny can this be, assad asking a jewish senator who is completely pro israel to mediate his peace talks. What happent to his good buddies in Turkey, the new muslim power broker. They have been exposed as two bit players trying to show the world how important they are and in the process proved thmeselves to be amateur jerks. Right now all we hear is Turkey demanding an israeli apology that isn't coming. Turkey is being humilated as they can't enforce their will on Israel. Now syria is reaching out to a Jew not a muslim to talk to Israel. Hezbollah another two bit player is running around so scared that Israel is coming after them that htey are pleading in the press for protection. these events are a far cry from two weeks ago when they thought the floilla inicident was going to get Israel once and for all. So all the muslim enemies of peace are running for the hills trying to restore their credibility as a two bit military powers who can influence the direction of the middle east. But they can't. Once again Israel provies its superiority both intellectually and militarily. so bashir, go back home and get under the covers, becasue arlen spector won't save you from yourself.

Assad has a bigger chance to became a solo dancer in the Bolshoy Ballet in Moscow, than having back the Golan.

It's Israels world that's getting smaller...or hadn't you noticed? The Boycotts are working and more Flotillas are coming along ...all summer long... TATA

Occupying Native lands after slaughtering the Owners, no wonder that you ally yourself with Arab Imperialists who want to do the same to Native Jews.

They lost the Golan after they started the war. So too bad.

The next flotilla is going to Egypt or havent you heard yet? Boycoyss ? what boycotts ? we dont feel a thing here.

It's not the arrogance, it's the truth which hurt's Isn't it ?

Israel does not need to do any deals with Syria, whilst they may benefit Assad it would damage Israel in every way possible. The huge financial cost of withdrawing civilians from the Golan would run into the billions. The cost of relocating military bases & early warning stations would cost billions. The lost income from jobs would be in the millions. The cost of finding rehousing all the now refugees, keeping them on unemployment benefits until jobs can be found for them & you can't pull 30,000 jobs out of thin air would be huge. Taxpayers would be paying off the cost of this treaty for a decade or more. Assad is planning to move 1 million syrians into the Golan creating a potential Gaza of the north but Assad has plausable deniability Arafat tried the same trick and it worked. All Assad needs to say is look I made peace there are a million people in the Golan I cant control them all. He might make some low level token arrests now and again and operate a revolving door policy locke them up today when the world is no longer looking let them out. Assad will have the strategic high ground and even in an age of missiles and jets in a war you still need infantry and if you have the high ground you have an advantage. I imagine that any peace treaty will include the standard US military aid package. \Assad can trade his MIG 25s for F16S and T55 & T72 tanks for Abrams. So we lose the high ground, military bases, early warning stations in exchange we get a better armed Syria. Assad has also said in exchange for Golan & a share of the Kineret which is part of his demands he is not offering a full peace with exchange of ambassedors etc. Instead he is offering some kind of truce and Israels left is all for it as well as the US. Syria is no threat to Israel militarily right now and even if Assad broke iff diplomatic relations with Iran it wouldn't make a difference because Iran will manage just fine without Syria. It will mean Iran no longer has to pay Assads debts to Russia so it doesn't help us in anyway except we get one over on Iran politically. The last person we need as some kind of negotiator is a jew. If wont want people thinking he was biased in Israels favor because he is jewish so he is probably going to have to be much more pro Syria than a non jew would be. Dont do a deal for the sake of a nobel prize and being able to say we have a treaty with Syria and to give a US president with an ego their legacy.

Did Mr. Assad order one, or maybe all Syrian radio stations to play Senator Specter's music full-time? It's one of those little things that never make the news. There was an A-Team episode where the later Mr. Broccoli did just that. Or maybe Mr. Assad is confusing the Senator with music producer Phil Spector and hoping to get to do the vocals and percussion on the next Einstuerzende Neubauten album.