Qifa Nabki
Syria-Israel Peace Negotiations
Assad Chooses Iran Over Golan?
The Jerusalem Post is reporting that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has turned down an offer from Israeli President Shimon Peres, according to which Israel would return the Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for a severing of ties between Syria and its allies in the Axis of Resistance (Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, etc.) The story in … Continue reading
New ICG Report On Syria
I try to read everything pertaining to the Middle East published by the International Crisis Group, and wanted to alert QN readers to its latest report on Syria, published today. The executive summary is posted below. Download the full report as a PDF here. Update: Part 2 can be found here. Reshuffling the Cards? (I): … Continue reading
Failure to Coordinate Grand Gesture Ends in Embarrassment for Israel, Syria
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Fresh on the heels of a regional summit in Doha where President Bashar al-Assad had reaffirmed his support for resistance against Israel while expressing reservations about the Arab Peace Initiative, the Syrian president dropped a bombshell by embarking on an epoch-making visit to Tel Aviv, Wednesday morning. “Nobody saw this coming,” … Continue reading
Can Lebanon Play a Role in Syrian-Israeli Talks?
Joshua Landis, over at Syria Comment, has a good analysis entitled “Why Syria Will Not Get the Golan Back“. In it, he argues that obstacles such as mutual mistrust and the imbalance of power will overwhelm the Syrian-Israeli negotiations, producing “talks and plenty of discussions and process, but no peace.” Landis is planning to argue … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…