VOL.XXXIX

No.45

5August 1996

The Political Scene

Syria's reaction to last week's tour of the region by US envoy Dennis Ross - and to Israel's sudden emphasis on a "Lebanon first" approach in the negotiations with Syria - has been uniformly negative. The revelation that under the previous Israeli Government Israel and the Palestinians had more or less worked out most of the knottier problems in their final status negotiations only highlights the current uncertainty on the Palestinian track....