Palestine-Mandate

Will Syria attend or not?
Will Syria be invited as part of an Arab League or Arab Committee group, or individually?
Will Syria’s occupied territory (the Golan Heights) be on the agenda?
These are some of the questions still unanswered about the apparently-looming Annapolis event.

Joshua Landis wrote on Thursday on his Syria Comment blog that “Asad is sticking to his negotiating position on the Golan. He does not want his pockets picked going into Maryland. The Arab league is of similar mind. This suggests that Saudi Arabia and Syria have been putting their heads together to some extent - a least by means of Egyptian mediation. This is a good thing. Arab unity has been absent since the invasion of Iraq, leaving the region prostrate at the feet of the West and Iran. Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt must put their heads together going into talks with the Israelis or it will be all process and no peace - that is what the Israelis and some in the Bush administration want. It is the duty of the Arab governments to get a higher price for their participation. Their stock is already low enough as it is. The last thing they need is another round of fruitless negotiations that lead nowhere but to the loss of more land in the West Bank and a lower standard of living for the Palestinians”.
This post can be read in full here.