AMMAN (Reuters)- Damascus agreed on Monday to hand back to Jordan a tract of land along their border held by Syria for many years without Amman’s approval. Syrian Prime Minister Naji al Otari said the deal reconfirmed an internationally recognized border drawn in 1931.
Under the accord agreed after several top level security meetings over the last six months, Syria will remove fences and posts on land it had gained in decades of creeping incursions into Jordan. Syria and Jordan have long been at odds over the aims of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the Middle East peace process.
Source: [Haaretz]
If you want to hear my humble analysis, I would say that Syria is finally bending to international pressure and doing what it can to improve its image. Returning Jordanian land is one step of many that will come shortly including the complete withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.
Dear Hadi,
First of all, thank you for taking the time to write your comment.
The reason I made this conclusion was the latest Domino effect of Syrian actions which included the handing over of Saddam half brother, the withdrawal from Lebanon and now resolving the border issue. Some analysts see this as Syria trying to avoid a military action by the US whose army is stationed right on the border.
It is just an analysis! And It is not meant to offend the Syrians or anyone else. I might be wrong, but well, we are just chatting here;-)
Border “interactions” issue between Syria and Jordan is similar to border interaction issue between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. It has nothing to do with any international pressure, especially it is not known for the peoples in both countries, except you, rather to be an international concern!
In the other hand, a Syrian land was also under Jordanian control in spite that its area is far smaller (2.5 km2) than the Jordanian one under the Syrian control. accordingly, you will presume that Jordan has also responded to the international pressure and handed Syria its land back!
Hey, Natasha, read Jordan official declaration before jumping into what somebody may think as an “offensive” conclusion. When talking about Syria, please remember that you are talking about each Syrian.
For your reference, read what Petra, Jordanian News Agency, said at..
http://www.petranews.gov.jo/nepras/2005/Feb/28/24052500.htm
Sweating Bullets
One of my first posts was about Syria and the heat it was feeling internationally. This was following a UN resolution calling for Syria’s withdrawal from Lebanon, an Israeli assassination of a Hamas figure in Damascus and Syria’s meddling in
Can you blame the Syrian people for all of this? I really don’t think so. Even Bashar, the dentist, can’t bear all the responsibility. It seemed he was intent on reform and change, things I believe most Syrians desperately want, this being but one example.
But he was rebuffed by an old guard, an old guard that likely pulls the strings in Libnan. It would be a critical mistake to hold the people responsible for the actions of their governments. Even in the good old USA where now much of the world wonders how some high-ranking folks were re-elected, it’s important to remember that nearly half of the country did NOT want them.
Lebanon looks set for change and it appears that change is coming from a beautiful unity being found within its borders — the Cedar Revolution indeed! One can only hope that soon such development will come for the people of Syria, that their voice and desires will be more directly represented by some within their government. At least that’s my humble opinion.
well, although this border issue may be small, i am not sure because i never heard about it till now too, natasha is right about syria complying with international presures. they gave up saddam’s brother and the pro-syrian govt. in lebanon is resigning and they are slowly taking troops out of lebanon. i guess they just dont want to be attacked. they should fear that becase bushie likes to attack countries for the hell of it.
Hmmm !
What else do we have against Syria?
Maybe its a suitable time now to get it back. How about jordanian political prisoners in Syria ?
The border issue is not new. I’ve been hearing about it for a very long time. And if you examine the history of Jordanian-Syrian relations, you’ll notice they’ve not been particularly amicable, especially during the 70’s.
So solving the issue, in my opinion, can still be regarded as a way for Syria to improve its image outside. Thank you for responding though Ayman. It’s very healthy to hear two opinions on the story.
Natasha, I disagree. The border issue between Syria and Jordan is a different thing. Syria did not agree to solve the “dispute” because of international pressure. I don’t actually know if this can be called a dispute.. because the first time we heard about it was a few month ago, and we have all seen that negotiations were so easy and were held by the Interior Ministries of both sides. When somebody reads this he will think that Syria has been occupying a part of Jordan and refusing to withdraw from it. This is simply not the case! Similar border problems exist everyhwere in the region, because borders are not marked accurately and in many places they just exist on maps.