Diplomatic Movement in Syria?

If you are interested in foreign affairs and world events there are few better places to spend an hour than "Fareed Zakaria GPS" on CNN Sunday mornings. "GPS" in this case stands for Global Public Square. This week was no exception, and featured a remarkable interview with the Syrian ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha. You can read the entire transcript here. The bottom line from Syria's ambassador is that he says his country is ready to agree to a permanent peace with Israel.

Such a peace could be along the lines of what currently exists between Israel and Egypt and Israel and Jordan. Israel would return the Golan, the two countries would exchange recognition and ambassadors, normalize relations and so on. But Moustapha hopes the agreement would go even further, to include a comprehensive and final settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli dispute. Significantly, however, that was not held up as a precondition. "But you have alluded to the Israeli peace agreement with Jordan and Egypt. If this is what Israel wants, this can be done." But he went on to propose, "The issue is, shouldn't we at one point arrive to a point in which peace prevails in the Middle East, suffering ends, human dignity is restored to the Palestinian nation?"

The ambassador feels the election of Barack Obama has opened new possibilities. "We thought that America has vindicated herself by electing Obama after eight terrible years with the Bush administration. The ordinary, simple man from Syria was overjoyed." But for his country in particular, Moustapha explained, "However, because of Syria, the major emphasis was on the sentence in which he said that he wants to support the peace process between Syria and Israel. This made news headlines in Syria as compared to the Bush administration that used to oppose peace talks between Syria and Israel. For us in Syria, I think this was a very important message."

He contended the U.S. has a "moral obligation" to sponsor peace talks. He shows an appreciation for Israeli concerns and the special relationship it enjoys with America by saying, "The moment the United States will come in vigorously and tell the Israelis, while we are absolutely committed to your security, we believe that what you are doing is detriment even to your own security on the long term (sic)." Moustapha also praised the naming of former Senator George Mitchell as special envoy to the region, calling him, "A person known for his honesty, integrity, fairness and his capability to deliver."

Though hopes have been dashed many times in the volatile region, this is quite an important set of pronouncements from Syria's official representative to the United States. It affords an opportunity to defuse a dispute between Israel and the third of its four neighbors. Perhaps as importantly, it appears to evidence Syrian willingness to warm up to the United States and reconsider what Zakaria calls its recent "unnatural alliance with normally anti-Arab (and, of course, highly anti-American) Iran." By declaring certain countries pariah states and refusing to engage with them, American diplomacy over the past few years has done much to push them into common cause with each other. So both for reasons of peace and national interest, this is an opening the Obama administration would do well to fully explore.