Assad Faces Trouble on All Fronts

By Gil Sedan
Published on March 3, 2005

Syrian President Bashar Assad is confused and worried. The heat is on, and it's not clear he can take it.

Israel points a menacing finger at Syria for hosting terrorists, accusing it of enabling last Friday's deadly terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, which has been blamed on the Damascus-based Islamic Jihad.

Assad has said he wants to renew peace talks with Israel, but at the same time he wants to please his backyard radicals. In addition, anti-Syrian sentiment in Lebanon is sizzling; the United States and France are pressing Syria to withdraw from Lebanon; the United States is growing impatient with Syria's tolerance of Palestinian and Iraqi terrorists; Assad wants to appease the United States without losing his face with Arab hardliners; and Syria's longtime ally, Egypt, is toying with "democracy," while Assad's own internal reforms are stuck.

So which way can he go?

Assad Faces Trouble on All Fronts

By Gil Sedan
Published on March 3, 2005

Syrian President Bashar Assad is confused and worried. The heat is on, and it's not clear he can take it.

Israel points a menacing finger at Syria for hosting terrorists, accusing it of enabling last Friday's deadly terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, which has been blamed on the Damascus-based Islamic Jihad.

Assad has said he wants to renew peace talks with Israel, but at the same time he wants to please his backyard radicals. In addition, anti-Syrian sentiment in Lebanon is sizzling; the United States and France are pressing Syria to withdraw from Lebanon; the United States is growing impatient with Syria's tolerance of Palestinian and Iraqi terrorists; Assad wants to appease the United States without losing his face with Arab hardliners; and Syria's longtime ally, Egypt, is toying with "democracy," while Assad's own internal reforms are stuck.

So which way can he go?

After 10 Years, a Separate Peace

By Gil Sedan
Published on October 28, 2004

Ten years ago this week, in the midst of a desert storm in the Arava Valley, the late King Hussein of Jordan and the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel signed a peace accord ushering in an era of hope that relations between the neighbors would become a model for a new Middle East.

Will Gaza Pullout Bring Civil Strife?

By Gil Sedan
Published on September 16, 2004

On the eve of the Jewish New Year, Israel's national discourse was dominated by talk of potential civil war, but few of those talking dared define the possible dimensions of such a conflict.

Would it mean confrontations between soldiers and civilians? Would it be limited to the extreme margins of the settler movement? Could it really present a threat to the very existence of the State of Israel, as Knesset member Yossi Sarid suggested?

Sheik Yassin and Me

By Gil Sedan
Published on March 25, 2004

As a journalist, I met Sheik Ahmed Yassin twice during my visits to the Gaza Strip. The first time was when I attended a military court hearing in 1984, when Yassin was sentenced to 13 years in prison for anti-Israel activities.

Only a year later Yassin was released in a prisoner-exchange deal, and a few years after that I visited him at his home in Gaza.

On both occasions I was left with the impression that this seemingly vulnerable quadriplegic was as strong as a rock, outwardly unmoved by the course of events.

Is P.A. Taking Steps Against Terror?

By Gil Sedan
Published on August 28, 2003

Israel is skeptical about the Palestinian Authority's tentative measures against terrorism -- and is following up by conducting anti-terror operations of its own.

Terrorists in Old City

By Gil Sedan
Published on August 29, 2002

Since the intifada began two years ago, Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert had boasted that Arab residents of eastern Jerusalem had opted to stay out of the violence for fear of losing Israeli social service benefits.

Arafat’s Paper Trail

By Gil Sedan
Published on April 18, 2002

These battleground spoils cannot explode or kill, but Israel considers them important benefits of its military operation in the West Bank: Thousands of documents, pamphlets and posters that provide written evidence of the Palestinian Authority's massive involvement in terrorism. The documents were captured at places like Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah and other P.A. offices, offices of the P.A.'s Preventive Security Service and Arafat's Tanzim militia, Palestinian organizations throughout the West Bank and the Palestinian Liberation Organization's (PLO) Jerusalem headquarters at Orient House.

Control Issues

By Gil Sedan
Published on March 28, 2002

Suppose for a second that Israel strikes a cease-fire deal with Yasser Arafat. Would the Palestinian Authority president be able to deliver? Arafat himself may not know for sure, as the extent of control he retains over the many military factions he has created or allowed to flourish in his territory is unclear.

Foul Wind From Iran

By Gil Sedan
Published on January 10, 2002

Iran has again surfaced on Israeli radar screens as a strategic threat to the Jewish state.

Intifada: No Let-up

By Gil Sedan
Published on May 3, 2001

Israel doesn't understand the Palestinians, lamented a former official who has spent years trying to do so, and this is why Israel doesn't know how to deal with them.

The speaker was Ami Ayalon, until recently the head of the Shin Bet security service, which fights an ongoing war against Palestinian terrorism.

Estranged Bedfellows

By Gil Sedan
Published on March 8, 2001

Only in Israel would a government minister refrain from singing the national anthem.

Increasing Tensions

By Gil Sedan
Published on November 2, 2000

As the violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip enters its second month, there is a growing fear that it will escalate and embroil the entire region.

Pushing the Limits

By Gil Sedan
Published on October 5, 2000

In less than a week, whatever was left of the mutual trust between Israelis and Palestinians appeared to come tumbling down.

Assigning Blame

By Gil Sedan
Published on October 5, 2000

The catalyst for a spate of violence here may have been an Israeli politician's visit to a Muslim and Jewish holy site, but Israeli officials are holding Palestinian leaders directly responsible for the bloodshed.At least 55 people were killed, mostly Palestinians, in rioting that touched off Sept. 28 when Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Mourning Israel’s Poet

By Gil Sedan
Published on September 28, 2000

Yehuda Amichai, a world-renowned poet and one of Israel's most famous writers, has died of cancer at the age of 76.

Getting Ready

By Gil Sedan
Published on July 20, 2000

As their leaders are talking peace, many Israelis and Palestinians are preparing for war.They include not only militant Jewish settlers and members of the fundamentalist Palestinian Hamas movement, but also the Israeli army and the troops of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's Fatah group.