Israel–Syria relations: Difference between revisions

Israel–Syria relations

Israel	Syria

Israel–Syria relations refers to diplomatic and economic relations between Israel and Syria. The two countries have since the establishment of the State of Israel been in a state of war. There have not been diplomatic relations between the two countries since the creation of both countries in the mid-20th century. The countries have fought three major wars, which are the 1948 Arab Israeli War in 1948, the Six-Day War in 1967, and the Yom Kippur War in 1973, later also being involved in the Lebanese Civil War and the 1982 Lebanon War. Both countries do allow a limited trade of apples for the Golan Druze villages, located on both sides of the 1973 ceasefire line, and a limited movement of people across the border. Israel also has allowed academic study by Golan Druze from the Israeli-controlled side in Damascus universities, though the procedure has been greatly reduced as a result of the Syrian civil war.

History

1948–1975

Since the 1949 Armistice Agreements, relations between Israel and Syria have been characterized by periods of hostility; ceasefire talks, sometimes through intermediaries; and disengagement agreements, such as the 1974 Israeli–Syrian disengagement agreement. In 1949, an Israeli–Syrian peace treaty was negotiated with the short-lived Syrian government of Husni al-Za'im.

Prior to the 1967 Six-Day War, intermittent hostilities centered on the Demilitarized Zones, water issues and shelling and infiltration from the Golan Heights. Since the war, the focus of negotiations has been "land for peace," in particular a demand that Israel return the Golan Heights to Syria along with Syrian recognition of Israel and establishment of peaceful relations with it, as stipulated in UN Security Council Resolution 242. And yet, in the US-brokered Syrian–Israeli talks during the 1990s, Syria demanded that Israeli future withdrawal would be to the "June 4, 1967 Lines", namely west of the former British Mandate border with Syria.^[1] Syria attempted to recover the Golan Heights in the Yom Kippur War, but was unsuccessful, only recovering a small part of it in the 1974 disengagement agreement, while committing to distance its armed forces further eastwards compared with their 1967–1973 positions.

During Lebanese civil war

In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon to drive out the PLO. Syria sent ground and air forces to assist the Lebanese, but these were largely routed by the Israelis. Syria continued to support Lebanese resistance, leading up to Israel's withdrawal in 2000.

1990s peace efforts

The first high-level public talks aimed at a permanent resolution of the conflict between Israel and Syria were held at and after the multilateral Madrid Conference of 1991. Throughout the 1990s several Israeli governments negotiated with Syria's president Hafez Al-Assad. While serious progress was made, they were unsuccessful.

During Damascus spring: 2000–2005

High points of hostility in the 2000s included the Ain es Saheb airstrike (an Israeli Air Force mission against Palestinian militants inside Syria) in 2003 and Operation Orchard (an Israeli air and commando mission against Syria's alleged nuclear program) in 2007.

Syrian alliance with Iran: 2006–present

During the 2006 Lebanon War, Syria threatened to enter the war on Hezbollah's side, provided support to Hezbollah, and allowed Iran to ship supplies to Hezbollah through its territory. Later, Turkey organized peace talks between the two countries, but Syria later withdrew in response to the 2008–2009 Gaza War.

The September 2007 Operation Orchard attack by the Israeli Air Force destroyed a facility that Israel claimed was a nuclear site in the Deir ez-Zor region.^[2][3][4]

In 2010, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused Israel of avoiding peace, and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem warned that in the event of a future war, Israeli cities would be targeted by Syrian missiles. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman responded by saying that the Syrian military would be defeated in a war with Israel, and Assad and his family would be forced from power. Lieberman also advised Syria to let go of the demand for the Golan Heights.^[5] For several months in 2010 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel engaged in secret, American-brokered discussions with Syria.^[6]

During Syrian civil war

Several incidents have taken place on the Israeli–Syrian ceasefire line during the Syrian Civil War, straining the relations between the countries. The incidents are considered a spillover of the Quneitra Governorate clashes since 2012 and later incidents between Syrian Army and the rebels, ongoing on the Syrian-controlled side of the Golan and the Golan Neutral Zone and the Hezbollah involvement in the Syrian Civil War. Through the incidents, which began in late 2012, as of mid-2014, one Israeli civilian was killed and at least 4 soldiers wounded; on the Syrian-controlled side, it is estimated that at least ten soldiers were killed, as well as two unidentified militants, who attempted to penetrate into Israeli-occupied side of the Golan Heights.^[7]

On December 19 2015, eight people, including Samir Kuntar and other Hezbollah field commanders, were killed by an explosion destroying a six-story residential building in Jaramana on the outskirts of Damascus.^[8][9] Hezbollah and the state run Syrian Arab News Agency reported that the building was destroyed by an air-to-surface missile launched by the Israeli Air Force.^[10][11][12] Sources affiliated with the Syrian opposition reported that Israeli aircraft attacked seven positions belonging to Hezbollah in the Qalamoun Mountains area on December 26, 2015.^[13]

Economic relations

Since 2004, Israel has exported apples to Syria through the Quneitra crossing. In 2010, some 10,000 tons of apples grown by Druze farmers in the Golan Heights were sent to Syria.^[14] Israeli minister Ayoub Kara called for an agreement with Syria over the supply of water to towns in the Golan Heights. Today, ten percent of the water in the Druze town of Majdal Shams is supplied by Syria, from the Ein al-Toufah spring. This arrangement has been in place for 25 years.^[15]

Tourism and cultural exchange

In 2010, the Israeli government authorized a pilgrimage to Syria by a group of 300 Druze citizens of Israel interested in visiting religious sites there.^[16] A group of dancers from five Druze villages in Israel was sent to Aleppo to perform in a dabka competition.^[17] Civilians are permitted to cross the border at Quneitra for university studies and marriage. Syrian citizens of the Golan are entitled to free tuition, books and lodging.^[18] Since 1993, 67 Syrian brides have crossed into the Golan Heights and 11 brides from Golan have crossed into Syria.^[19]

See also

• Independent Israel–Syria peace initiatives
• Israel–Syria Mixed Armistice Commission
• War over Water (Jordan river)

References

Further reading

• Cobban, Helena (2000). The Israeli-Syrian Peace Talks: 1991-96 And Beyond. Washington, D.C: United States Institute of Peace Press. ISBN 1-878379-98-4.
• Drysdale, Alastair (1991). Syria and the Middle East Peace Process. New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press. ISBN 0-87609-105-2.
• Rabinovich, Itamar (1991). The Road not Taken: Early Arab-Israeli Negotiations. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506066-0.

External links

• Agricultural trade potential following peace in the Middle East: The case of Syria and Israel
• Is Israel Facing War with Hizbullah and Syria?