'Close ties with Israel'

The popular uprising that swept the occupied territories was not a surprise but an expected action because of the intransigence of the Israeli government. This government has practically closed all the ways leading to peace.

It was normal that (Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin) Netanyahu's anti-peace policies lead to explosion in the occupied Arab territories and push the Palestinian people into the sole path left before them, which is the confrontation and uprising to protect what is left from their rights.

Netanyahu has pushed the peace process into a dangerous deadlock and has himself been suffering an endless series of crises and problems. It has become clear that the Israeli Prime Minister will not return to the peace process by himself and will continue to create problems and plant mines on the road of the peace operation.

The only way that could revive the peace process consists of intensifying Arab and international efforts to contain the Israeli expansionist inclinations and set off the Likud agitation. And this will not be achieved unless real pressures are exerted on the Israeli government.

The Arabs have effective capabilities and many cards to confront Netanyahu's anti-peace policies, primarily freezing normalization with the Israeli government and closing all outlets through which Israel could infiltrate into the Arab world.

Being flexible with the issue of freezing normalization will convince Netanyahu's government that the Arabs are satisfied with the present Israeli policies and have started to cope with the Israeli extremist policies.

Stopping normalization not only preserves Arab dignity and rights but also improves the chances of achieving peace and reactivates peace forces inside Israel itself.

The popular uprising in the occupied territories has shaken Israel and has shown the dangerous impact of Netanyahu's policy on peace and the situation in the region.

The Arabs are required to support this uprising by stopping normalization and exert more pressures to expose the aggressive expansionist policies exercised by Netanyahu's government.

-- Tishrin Daily, Damascus