Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-10-09-Speech-4-026"
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"en.20031009.1.4-026"2
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"Mr President, after the Israeli raid into Syria, the first of its size since the Yom Kippur war, in retaliation for the dreadful attack in Haifa perpetrated by a young female suicide bomber, the first question is whether we are at risk of entering a dangerous phase for peace throughout the Middle East.
It is undeniable that between President Assad, who is sticking to a rigid political stance and whose duty it is, therefore, to react strongly to the serious provocation represented by an attack on Syrian soil, and Prime Minister Sharon who, 13 months away from the US elections, can feel that he has a particularly free rein, there are elements that could further inflame tensions and result in the entire region becoming engulfed. What we are seeing at the moment, however, is the modest and slow nature of the initial reaction from Damascus, which has undeniably brought the global weakness of Syria’s current position to the fore. The little success it has had in submitting its case to the Security Council has shown its isolation at international level, which adds to its relative regional isolation since the war in Iraq and its military weakness since Damascus has stopped receiving supplies of sophisticated weapons sold on credit. With military decoupling from Israel increasing greatly, it is difficult to imagine Syria taking the risk of military escalation in the Golan Heights. The Republic of Syria will, therefore, no doubt do so on the Blue Line with the intervention of the Shiite Hezbollah.
This indirect response is not without risk. In this sensitive phase European diplomacy could, therefore, play a useful mediating role alongside the two players to help prevent the spiral of another regional escalation from being set in motion."@en1
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