May 29, 2008
"[A] peace agreement with Syria is the same as signing a peace agreement with [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad. ... We can not make any concession to Damascus as long as it is an ally of Iran and serves as its base for hostility and aggression against Israel."
--Likud MK Michael Eitan, May 22, 2008
"Iran is Syria's strategic backer in the face of the U.S. and Israel, and once Syria normalizes its ties with the West, it will no longer need Iran ... For Syria, talks with Israel are its way to rectify its ties with the West and the United States, most of all ... Iran needs a reason for friction with Israel. The second a peace agreement is signed with Syria and the Palestinians it will lose most of its excuses for its belligerency against Israel and support of terror organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas."
--Brigadier General (Res.) Shlomo Brom, former head of the Strategic Planning Division in the Planning Branch of the IDF’s General Staff, current senior research fellow at The Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, May 22, 2008
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Determined to Reach a Common Objective
“We knew at the outset that the task would be difficult. We acknowledged that publicly and privately. We knew this would be a road with many bumps— and there have been many bumps—and that continues to this day. But we are not deterred. We are, to the contrary, determined more than ever to proceed to realize the common objective, which we all share, of a Middle East that is at peace with security and prosperity for the people of Israel, for Palestinians, and for all the people in the region. We will continue our efforts in that regard, undeterred and undaunted by the difficulties, the complexities or the bumps in the road.”
—George Mitchell, special envoy for Middle East peace, remarks with Prime Minister Netanyahu, September 29, 2010
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