Netanyahu's attitude towards Syria will depend on Obama's "feelers to Damascus"

JTA, here

".....On the contrary, some senior military officials argue that taking out key Iranian nuclear facilities is not something Israel should contemplate doing on its own. For one, they argue, an Israeli attack on Iran would almost certainly spark a major war with Tehran and its proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and possibly Syria as well. Even more importantly, the officials say, Israel would be ill-advised to act without an American green light.

Obviously, Netanyahu would prefer the Americans to do the job themselves.....

The second major foreign policy issue on Netanyahu's desk is how to deal with his predecessor's peacemaking efforts with the Arab world, especially Syria and the Palestinians. ...... According to Pinkas, Netanyahu's attitude to negotiations with Syria will depend in the first instance on the outcome of the Obama administration's current feelers to Damascus. Both Israel and the United States are well aware of the strategic advantage of detaching Syria from the Iranian axis ..........Nevertheless, despite the heavy ideological baggage, pundits believe Netanyahu may well make a Syria move -- especially if talks with the Palestinians are deadlocked and if Obama presses for dialogue with Damascus in the overall Iranian context. At the very least, it would be a way of gaining points in the international arena....

On the Palestinian track, Netanyahu hopes to launch an initiative for what he calls "economic peace," creating conditions for a political settlement through intensive economic development of the West Bank. "We do not wish to rule another people. We do not want to rule the Palestinians ... Under the permanent-status agreement, the Palestinians will have all the authority they need to rule themselves," Netanyahu declared in the Knesset, promising a bona fide negotiation for a final peace deal on three parallel tracks -- economic, security and diplomatic -- but stopping short of commitment to the two-state model accepted by previous Israeli governments, the Palestinian Authority and the international community...."