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Saturday, July 31st, 2010

    Time Event
    12:16a
    Before he was killed, Yitzhak Rabin had given me...
    Before he was killed, Yitzhak Rabin had given me a commitment to withdraw from the Golan to the June 4, 1967, borders as long as Israels concerns were satisfiedThe commitment was given on the condition that I keep it in my pocket until it could be formally presented to Syria in the context of a complete solutionAfter Yitzhaks death, Shimon Peres reaffirmed the pocket commitment, and on this basis we had sponsored talks between the Syrians and the Israelis in 1996 at Wye RiverPeres wanted me to sign a security treaty with Israel if it gave up the Golan, an idea that was suggested to me later by Netanyahu and would be advanced again by BarakI had told them I was willing to do it

    Dennis Ross and our team had been making progress until Bibi Netanyahu defeated Peres in the election amid a rash of terrorist activityThen the Syrian negotiations falteredNow Barak wanted to start them up again, though as yet he was unwilling to reaffirm the precise words of the Rabin pocket commitment

    Barak had to contend with a very different Israeli electorate from the one Rabin had ledThere were many more immigrants, and the Russians in particular were opposed to giving up the GolanNatan Sharansky, who had become a hero in the West during his long imprisonment in the Soviet Union and had accompanied Netanyahu to Wye in 1998, explained the Russian Jews attitude to meHe said they had come from the worlds largest country to one of its smallest ones, and didnt believe in making Israel even smaller by giving up the Golan ladies omega watches or the West BankThey also considered Syria to be no threat to IsraelThey werent at peace but were not at war eitherIf Syria attacked Israel, the Israelis could win easilyWhy give up the Golan?

    While Barak didnt agree with this view, he had to contend with itNevertheless, he wanted to make peace with Syria, was confident the issues could be resolved, and wanted me to convene negotiations as soon as possibleBy January, I had been working for more than three months with the Syrian foreign minister, Farouk al-Shara, and by telephone with President Assad to set the stage for the talksAssad was not in good health and wanted to regain the Golan before he died, but he had to be carefulHe wanted his son Bashar to succeed him, and apart from his own conviction that Syria should get back all the land it had occupied before June 4, 1967, he had to make an agreement that would not be subject to attack from forces within Syria whose support his son would need

    Assads frailty and a stroke suffered by Foreign Minister Shara in the fall of 1999 heightened Baraks sense of urgencyAt his request, I sent Assad a letter saying I thought Barak was willing to make a deal if we could resolve the definition of the border, the control of water, and the early-warning post, and that if they did reach agreement, the United States would be prepared to establish bilateral relations with Syria, a move Barak had urgedThat was a big step for us, given Syrias past support of terrorismOf course, Assad would have to stop supporting mulberry roxanne terrorism in order to achieve normal relations with the U but if he had the Golan back, the incentive to support the Hezbollah terrorists who attacked Israel from Lebanon would evaporate

    Barak wanted peace with Lebanon, too, because he had committed to withdrawing Israeli forces from the country by the end of the year, and a peace agreement would make Israel safer from Hezbollah attacks along the border, and would not make it appear that Israel had withdrawn because of the attacksAs he well knew, no agreement with Lebanon would come without Syrias consent and involvement

    Assad replied a month later in a letter that appeared to back away from his previous position, perhaps because of the uncertainties in Syria that his and Sharas health problems had causedHowever, a few weeks after that, when Madeleine Albright and Dennis Ross went to see Assad and Shara, who seemed completely recovered, Assad told them that he wanted to resume negotiations and was ready to make peace because he believed Barak was seriousHe even agreed to have Shara negotiate, something he had not done before, as long as Barak would personally handle the Israeli side

    Barak accepted eagerly and wanted to begin immediatelyI explained that we could not do it during the Christmas holidays, and he agreed to our timetable: preliminary talks in Washington in mid-December, to be resumed early in the New Year with my participation and to continue uninterrupted until agreement was reachedThe Washington talks got off to a bit of a rocky coco chanel designer start with an aggressive public statement by SharaNevertheless, in the private talks, when Shara suggested that we should start where the talks had left off in 1996, with Rabins pocket commitment of the June 4 line provided Israels needs were met, Barak responded that while he had made no commitment on territory, we do not erase historyThe two men then agreed that I could decide the order in which the issuesincluding borders, security, water, and peacewould be discussedBarak wanted the negotiations to continue uninterrupted; that would require the Syrians to work through the end of Ramadan on January 7 and not go home to celebrate the traditional feast of Eid Al Fitr at the end of the fasting periodShara agreed, and the two sides went home to prepare

    Although Barak had pushed hard for the early negotiations, he soon began to worry about the political consequences of giving up the Golan without having prepared the Israeli public for itHe wanted some cover: the resumption of the Lebanon track to be conducted by the Syrians in consultation with the Lebanese; the announcement by at least one Arab state of an upgrade of relations with Israel; clear security benefits from the United States; and a free-trade zone on the GolanI agreed to support all these requests and took things a step further, calling Assad on December 19 and asking him to resume the Lebanese track at the same time as the Syrian talks and to help retrieve the remains of three Israelis still listed as missing in action from the Lebanon war cartier tank louis cartier almost twenty years earlierAssad agreed to the second request and we sent a forensics team to Syria, but unfortunately the remains werent where the Israelis thought they would beOn the first issue, Assad hedged, saying the Lebanese talks should resume once some headway had been made on the Syrian track

    Shepherdstown is a rural community a little more than an hours drive from Washington; Barak had insisted on an isolated setting to minimize leaks, and the Syrians didnt want to go to Camp David or Wye River because other high-profile Middle East negotiations had occurred thereThat was fine with me; the conference facilities in Shepherdstown were comfortable, and I could get there from the White House in about twenty minutes by helicopter

    It quickly became apparent that the two sides were not that far apart on the issuesSyria wanted all of the Golan back but was willing to leave the Israelis a small strip of land, 10 meters (33 feet) wide, along the border of the lake; Israel wanted a wider strip of landSyria wanted Israel to withdraw within eighteen months; Barak wanted three yearsIsrael wanted to stay in the early-warning station; Syria wanted it manned by personnel from the UN or perhaps from the UIsrael wanted guarantees on the quality and quantity of water flowing from the Golan into the lake; Syria agreed as long as it got the same guarantees on its water flow from TurkeyIsrael wanted full diplomatic relations as soon as withdrawal began; Syria wanted something less until the withdrawal was chanel cc necklace complet
    12:18a
    He is not a shining character, but he has a...
    He is not a shining character, but he has a thousand good qualities;
    and is so disposed to look up to you, that I am quite laughed at
    about it, for everybody considers it as my doingGrant the other day, ‘if MrRushworth were a
    son of your own, he could not hold Sir Thomas in greater respect”
    166
    Mansfield Park
    Sir Thomas gave up the point, foiled by her evasions, disarmed by
    her flattery; and was obliged to rest satisfied with the conviction
    that where the present pleasure of those she loved was at stake, her
    kindness did sometimes overpower her judgment
    It was a busy morning with himConversation with any of them
    occupied but a small part of itHe had to reinstate himself in all the
    wonted concerns of his Mansfield life: to see his steward and his
    bailiff; to examine and compute, and, in the intervals of business, to
    walk into his stables and his gardens, and nearest plantations; but
    active and methodical, he had not only done all this before he resumed
    his seat as master of the house at dinner, he had also set the
    carpenter to work in pulling down what had been so lately put up
    in the billiard-room, and given the scene-painter his dismissal long
    enough to justify the pleasing belief of his being then at least as far
    off as NorthamptonThe scene-painter was gone, having spoilt only
    the floor of one room, ruined all the coachman’s sponges, and made
    five of the under-servants idle and dissatisfied; and Sir Thomas was
    in hopes that another day or two would suffice to wipe away every
    outward chanel white purse memento of what had been, even to the destruction of
    every unbound copy of Lovers’ Vows in the house, for he was burning
    all that met his eye
    MrYates was beginning now to understand Sir Thomas’s intentions,
    though as far as ever from understanding their sourceHe
    and his friend had been out with their guns the chief of the morning,
    and Tom had taken the opportunity of explaining, with proper
    apologies for his father’s particularity, what was to be expected
    Yates felt it as acutely as might be supposedTo be a second time
    disappointed in the same way was an instance of very severe ill-luck;
    and his indignation was such, that had it not been for delicacy towards
    his friend, and his friend’s youngest sister, he believed he should
    certainly attack the baronet on the absurdity of his proceedings,
    and argue him into a little more rationalityHe believed this very
    stoutly while he was in Mansfield Wood, and all the way home; but
    there was a something in Sir Thomas, when they sat round the same
    table, which made MrYates think it wiser to let him pursue his
    own way, and feel the folly of it without oppositionHe had known
    many disagreeable fathers before, and often been struck with the
    167
    Jane Austen
    inconveniences they occasioned, but never, in the whole course of
    his life, had he seen one of that class so unintelligibly moral, so
    infamously tyrannical as Sir ThomasHe was not a man to be endured
    but for his children’s sake, and he might be thankful to his
    fair daughter Julia that MrYates did yet mean omega geneve automatic to stay a few days
    longer under his roof
    The evening passed with external smoothness, though almost every
    mind was ruffled; and the music which Sir Thomas called for
    from his daughters helped to conceal the want of real harmony
    Maria was in a good deal of agitationIt was of the utmost consequence
    to her that Crawford should now lose no time in declaring
    himself, and she was disturbed that even a day should be gone by
    without seeming to advance that pointShe had been expecting to
    see him the whole morning, and all the evening, too, was still expecting
    himRushworth had set off early with the great news
    for Sotherton; and she had fondly hoped for such an immediate
    eclaircissement as might save him the trouble of ever coming back
    againBut they had seen no one from the Parsonage, not a creature,
    and had heard no tidings beyond a friendly note of congratulation
    and inquiry from MrsGrant to Lady BertramIt was the first day
    for many, many weeks, in which the families had been wholly divided
    Four-and-twenty hours had never passed before, since August
    began, without bringing them together in some way or other
    It was a sad, anxious day; and the morrow, though differing in the
    sort of evil, did by no means bring lessA few moments of feverish
    enjoyment were followed by hours of acute sufferingHenry
    Crawford was again in the house: he walked up with DrGrant,
    who was anxious to pay his respects to Sir Thomas, and at rather an
    early hour they were ushered into the breakfast-room, where were
    most of the chanel j12 familySir Thomas soon appeared, and Maria saw with
    delight and agitation the introduction of the man she loved to her
    fatherHer sensations were indefinable, and so were they a few minutes
    afterwards upon hearing Henry Crawford, who had a chair
    between herself and Tom, ask the latter in an undervoice whether
    there were any plans for resuming the play after the present happy
    interruption (with a courteous glance at Sir Thomas), because, in
    that case, he should make a point of returning to Mansfield at any
    168
    Mansfield Park
    time required by the party: he was going away immediately, being
    to meet his uncle at Bath without delay; but if there were any prospect
    of a renewal of Lovers’ Vows, he should hold himself positively
    engaged, he should break through every other claim, he should absolutely
    condition with his uncle for attending them whenever he
    might be wantedThe play should not be lost by his absence
    “From Bath, Norfolk, London, York, wherever I may be,” said he;
    “I will attend you from any place in England, at an hour’s notice
    It was well at that moment that Tom had to speak, and not his
    sisterHe could immediately say with easy fluency, “I am sorry you
    are going; but as to our play, that is all over—entirely at an end”
    (looking significantly at his father)“The painter was sent off yesterday,
    and very little will remain of the theatre to-morrowI knew
    how that would be from the firstYou will find
    nobody there
    “It is about my uncle’s usual time
    “When do you think of going?”
    “I may, spy bag fendi perhaps, get as far as Banbury to-day
    “Whose stables do you use at Bath?” was the next question; and while
    this branch of the subject was under discussion, Maria, who wanted
    neither pride nor resolution, was preparing to encounter her share of it
    with tolerable calmness
    To her he soon turned, repeating much of what he had already
    said, with only a softened air and stronger expressions of regretBut
    what availed his expressions or his air? He was going, and, if not
    voluntarily going, voluntarily intending to stay away; for, excepting
    what might be due to his uncle, his engagements were all self-imposed
    He might talk of necessity, but she knew his independence
    The hand which had so pressed hers to his heart! the hand and the
    heart were alike motionless and passive now! Her spirit supported
    her, but the agony of her mind was severeShe had not long to
    endure what arose from listening to language which his actions contradicted,
    or to bury the tumult of her feelings under the restraint of
    society; for general civilities soon called his notice from her, and the
    farewell visit, as it then became openly acknowledged, was a very
    short oneHe was gone—he had touched her hand for the last time,
    he had made his parting bow, and she might seek directly all that
    169
    Jane Austen
    solitude could do for herHenry Crawford was gone, gone from the
    house, and within two hours afterwards from the parish; and so
    ended all the hopes his selfish vanity had raised in Maria and Julia
    Bertram
    Julia could rejoice that he was men's omega watch go

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