Salman Masalha in
Ha'aretz: "
Israel's Favorite Arab Dictator of All is Asad". It's a curious truth, one that Israel's staunch supporter Joe Lieberman didn't seem to get
when he recently suggested imposing a no-fly zone in Syria. It's no secret that the Israelis were unhappy to see Mubarak go, but he at least had a peace treaty. The situation with Asad is more complicated, in part preferring to stick with "the devil they know," and in part I suspect the fear that the Muslim Brotherhood or some other Sunni movement would be more confrontational than the longstanding ‘Alawite regime.
The Syria-Israel truce line on the Golan Heights has seen virtually no incidents since 1973. Every 6 months, the UNSC routinely approves extension of the UNDOF mandate for truce observers, without objection from either Israel or Syria. It's an eloquent example of mutual interests between two nominal adversaries.
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