Editorial
between Palestinians and Israelis, are bogged down for many reasons, but mainly due to a basic lack of confidence. Syria interrupted the talks with Israel because, in its view, Ehud Barak was dragging his feet on the Golan issue by refusing to negotiate the outline of the final border between Syria and Israel, based on the June 4, 1967, armistice lines. Israel's insistence that security arrangements and the content of the peace (normalization) must be agreed upon first, provoked only distrust and resentment in Damascus. On the other hand, Syria's high-handed manner of conducting the negotiations - sending its foreign minister to talk to Israel's prime minister, Farouk Al-Shara's refusal to shake hands and to talk directly to his negotiating partner - these were not exactly helpful in promoting a favorable climate for what, after all, was supposed to be a peace parley.
Moreover, while Prime Minister Barak kept lauding President Assad and the "great leader who created modern Syria,"
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