Negotiation Process Between Israel and Syria During the Administration of Y. Rabin

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The article is devoted to the study of the Syrian-Israeli peace negotiations. The process had several stages, but the period 1992-1995 can be considered as the most effective. It was during Yitzhak Rabin administration that Israel managed to sign peace agreements with Jordan and the PLO, as well as to build a full-fledged negotiation process with Syria, which has traditionally held the most intransigent stance towards Israel. Studying the evolution of the Israeli-Syrian negotiating process allows us to determine the real intentions and positions of the parties, as well as to sum up the role of the United States as a mediator. The research is based on the memoirs of American politicians and diplomats (B. Clinton, C. Warren, D. Ross, D. Kurtser), who were directly involved in the Israeli-Syrian dialogue, as well as members of the Israeli negotiating group (I. Rabinovich, U. Sagie, U. Savir). In general, the stage of negotiations can be divided into two stages: meetings at the level of ambassadors to discuss the general terms of the agreement and negotiations on security issues with the participation of senior military leaders. At the initial stage, the main issue for Syria was Israel's withdrawal from the Golan Heights and the restoration of the border before June 1967. For the Israeli side, the priority issue was security guarantees. It was after the decision had been made to focus on security principles that included both pillars that historic progress was achieved. For the first time in the history of the two states, such a compromise was formalized in an unofficial document, which remains the only bilateral agreement between the sides. The analysis of the stage based on memoirs of those who took part in negotiations allows to answer the question that is on the agenda nowadays: was H. Assad ready to sign an agreement with Israel or he pursued other goals during the peace process.