 "Photo: Clare Sweeney")
On Tuesday afternoon, professors and students turned off CNN and tuned in to a dose of firsthand experience in the Middle East at a lecture titled "The U.S., Israel, and Syria: On the Path to Settlement or a New Conflict?" Imatar Rabinovich, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, captivated the audience with snippets of history, reflections on his experiences as a negotiator and views on current events in the Middle East. "It is difficult and even dangerous to analyze Syrian politics and to prognosticate about Syrian politics," Rabinovich said.
The talk was part of a series presented jointly by the Jewish Studies and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies departments titled "Energy, International Security, and the Middle East."
The presentation opened with an introduction by professor Ali Banuazizi of the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies department. Banuazizi called Rabinovich "the world authority and most distinguished student of the peace process in the Middle East." Rabinovich's lengthy professional and academic résumé includes being chief negotiator with Syria, Israeli ambassador to the United States from 1993-96, and president of Tel Aviv University.
Rabinovich gave a brief history of Israeli-Syrian relations and its importance in the Middle East. Rabinovich said that Syria is an ally of Iran, has influence in Lebanon and Hezbollah, and could potentially start another war in the Middle East. In the 1990s, he explained, Israel's focus was always on resolving the Syrian conflict first and the Palestinian conflict second.
But the death of Syrian President Hafiz al-Assad and former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's focus on the Palestinians caused the talks to end without producing any results. Now, the situation has been complicated by the unwillingness of the Bush administration to get involved and the lack of interest from current Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
To tie everything together, Rabinovich emphasized the importance of diplomacy. He highlighted the advantages of a peace accord between Israel and Syria as it would be a defeat for Iran and a resolution to problems in Lebanon.
Students and professors expressed a wide variety of reactions after the discussion. Professor Nasser Behnegar admitted that he was not an expert on the topic, but that the lecture convinced him of the importance of the Israeli-Syrian relations. "The lecture was a very informative history of the Israeli-Syrian negotiations by a man who participated in it," he said.
Iman Kabbaj, an exchange student from Morocco, came to the lecture because of her interest in diplomacy and the Middle East. "It is pretty interesting," she said. "It shed the light on some obscure points on the Israeli-Syrian conflict. I pretty much agree with what he's saying."
Kabbaj opposed Rabinovich's assertion that the Syrian issue was more important than the Palestinian conflict, however. "First settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," she said. "The Israeli-Syrian conflict is not a physical conflict. There is no army, whereas in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, there is a physical tension due to the presence of Israel in the Palestinian territories. That's why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be a priority rather than the Israeli-Syrian conflict."
George Somi, A&S '10, had his own views on the Syrian president. "I don't agree completely with his analysis of Bashar Assad. I think Bashar is almost like his dad. I don't know if you want to call him evil or good, but he's a genius. He is playing every side and he is still in power," he said.
Some students attended the lecture because it was required for one of their classes. Benjamin Mindes, A&S '11, was there for his Fundamental Concepts of Politics class. Mindes had some background about the Israeli-Syrian situation from his high school Model United Nations course, but was unaware of the history behind the conflict. "I had conceived that the relationship between Israel and Syria would be tense only based on the recent coverage in the news media. Ambassador Rabinovich exposed me to the historical reasons involving the Soviet Union and Syria's relation with Iran as to why there are such tensions between the two and the significance of the United States into the equation," he said in an e-mail.
Mindes appreciated the firsthand accounts offered by Rabinovich. "The Ambassador provided the audience a sense of personal background and inside information that is very rare. Usually the information that reaches us is channeled through many different forms of media and journalism until the public hears about it. Having an inside opinion who has not gone through the media first is an interesting change to class lectures and such."
Trey Brewer, A&S '11, was also there for Fundamental Concepts of Politics. Unlike Mindes, Brewer was not familiar with the issue but learned a great deal from the lecture. "When I think about the Middle East and Syria and stuff I think about corrupt leadership and the evil hand." Coming out of the lecture, Rabinovich's message about diplomacy resonated with Brewer. "The only solution is when both sides have a dire need for an agreement. You can apply that philosophy to what you know and what the United States is doing now," she said.
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