Syria and Israel begin negotiations. U.S. absent

Both Israel and Syria announced today that they are beginning a new round of negotiations on peace between the two nations after an 8 year hiatus of talks. The two countries have been in a state of war for 60 years now, and peace has proven to be an elusive goal. Interestingly the U.S. has not been part of this latest round of peace talks. Instead Turkey has taken on the dominant liason role.  

Both the U.S. and Turkey have been arbiters in the past for peace in the Middle East. However, Turkey has emerged as a more even handed and less biased broker than America. In case some wondered if this was actually the case White House spokesman Dana Perino made it plainly clear today when asked about the current situation,

“We were not surprised by it and we do not object to it. We hope that this is a forum to address various concerns we all have with Syria, Syria’s support of terrorism, repression of its own people.”

After reading the briefings I never saw anything metioned about Israel holding up their end of the bargain or what they would need to do to attain peace. The U.S. is as far from an even broker as their could be. For instance, the White House could have said something to the effect of,

“We hope that this is a forum to address various concerns we all have with Syria and Israel, Syria’s support of terrorism, repression of its own people. We also hope that Israel will submit to United Nations resolutions 242 and 338 which they have defied.”

American foreign policy in the region has always been such that the spotlight stays focused on any group opposed to Israel and stubbornly ignoring anything done by Israel such as fighter jet flyovers of the capital of Syria, Damascus or ignoring security council resolution after resolution.