Critics view the price as too high, and even those who support a peace accord are loath to relinquish the Golan. Other Israelis argue that with Jordan and Egypt at peace with Israel, Jerusalem has the security it needs. If an agreement with Syria is ever reached, Rabin promises a national referendum to ratify it. His chances will improve immeasurably if the U.S. agrees to station troops on the Golan to monitor the deal. Clinton has indicated he would send them, but political realities dictate that Congress approve the deployment, and Helms is only one of many who say no.
Terrorism is always a possibility, but the risks pale beside the opportunity of a pact with Syria.
Even with Israel at peace with its other neighbors, Syria might seek to undermine the existing agreements if it remains the only state on Israel's borders still at war with it. Peace with Syria would also calm the region, help secure Western access to Middle East oil at reasonable prices and further isolate Iraq and Iran, the bad actors supporting the world's worst terrorists. Syria already possesses the most advanced strategic-weapons capability in the Arab world, and its chemical, biological and ballistic missile programs are proceeding on a crash basis even as Damascus talks peace. A battle utilizing weapons of mass destruction would invariably provoke a punishing Israeli counterstrike, possibly with nuclear weapons, but Israel would suffer as never before. For that reason alone, peace with Syria is clearly in Israel's interest.