Hostile Reception for New Israeli Cabinet

As newly sworn-in Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu began his first full week in office, Syrian media offered a bleak assessment of the Middle East peace process.



“Netanyahu and his governing coalition have a history of extremist views,” asserted columnist Ezeddin Darwish in the official government newspaper Tishreen.



Darwish pointed to comments that Netanyahu – who was sworn in on March 31 – made during his election campaign, in which he dismissed any possibility of returning the Golan Heights which Israel captured from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War.



In an interview with an Israeli TV station on April 2, Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said he too opposed any withdrawal from the Golan in return for a peace deal with Syria.



“I am very much in favour of peace with Syria, but only on one basis — peace in return for peace,” he said.



He added that there would be “no withdrawals from the Golan during my time and, hopefully, not at any time”.



Such talk from Israeli hard-liners will make it impossible for Damascus to accept a peace agreement, according to an opinion article by Eid Abu Seka in the state-backed Al-Baath newspaper.



Although Israel and Syria held four rounds of indirect talks mediated by Turkey last year, Syria cut off the negotiations in December to protest against Israel’s offensive against Hamas in Gaza.



Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said last week that he was still interested in pursuing peace if Netanyahu would agree to negotiate on the Golan Heights. He also urged the United States to play a more active role in any peace process.