THE former Israeli Prime Minister and opposition Labour Party leader, Mr Shimon Peres, yesterday lashed out at the government for the paralysis in the peace process with Syria, labelling the freeze in talks with Damascus a "fatal error". His comments came as the Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, was touring Israel's self styled security zone in southern Lebanon.
Mr Peres also derided Mr Netanyahu's "Lebanon First" plan as "laughable". Mr Netanyahu, who opposes a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights - a Syrian prerequisite for a peace agreement with Israel - has proposed first reaching a settlement in south Lebanon, which would be likely to entail Israeli withdrawal, before tackling the Golan issue. President Hafez al Assad of Syria has categorically rejected Mr Netanyahu's formula.
During his tour, Mr Netanyahu reiterated his willingness to hold talks with Damascus on reducing tensions in south Lebanon where the Iranian backed Hizbullah movement operates with Syrian consent. But he did warn that Israel would not tolerate attacks on its soldiers or civilians, and intimated Lebanon would pay the price for any escalation.
Mr Peres warned on Sunday that the "freeze" in negotiations with Syria was already proving dangerous, as illustrated by the renewed ties between Damascus and Tehran. If the government brought the peace process to a complete halt, Mr Peres said, the nuclear threat in the Middle East would become very real.
In an article published Sunday in the Ha'aretz daily, Prof Ze'ev Maoz, head of Tel Aviv University's Jaffee Centre for Strategic Studies, predicted that the government's stated opposition to full withdrawal from the Golan meant a serious increase in the probability of war with Syria.
Mr Peres also attacked the government for not carrying out the redeployment of Israeli troops in the West Bank town of Hebron as stipulated in the Oslo peace accords. The government, meanwhile, as discussion on the Hebron redeployment continues, appears to have split over the proposed revised plans for the city.