The Syrian media -- the official government mouthpiece -- is continuing to bait Barak by saying that he never intended to withdraw from the Golan Heights because if he did he would have no problem giving a written pledge to that effect to the U.S. for safekeeping. Presumably, Syria does not want to be in the same situation it was in previously, when it said that it had received a promise from the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to withdraw from the Heights. That pledge was merely hypothetical, Israeli sources say. Israel has said that it refused to return to talks with preconditions in the first place and it will not accept preconditions now, but it is waiting to return to the negotiating table whenever the Syrians are ready. The Israeli government said it expects talks to resume within a matter of weeks but no official date has been set.

The second round of talks between Israeli and Syrian negotiators got off to a rough start when a welcoming dinner planned for the first evening had to be cancelled because the sides weren't ready to be in the same room together. U.S. President Bill Clinton shuttled back and forth from Washington to Shepherdstown five times in eight days in order to facilitate the talks. Most of the time he met separately with the leaders but there were at least three tri-lateral meetings, including a non-kosher dinner on the second to the last evening. Four working committees of experts were established to deal with the contentious issues: borders, water, security and normalization and by the end of the week all the committees had met.

The U.S. State Department was shocked when a so-called "vow of silence" reportedly taken by all parties was broken by both sides -- another indication that the State Department has little understanding of the ways of the Middle East. During the Shepherdstown talks, an Arab interpretation of the document was leaked to the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat. There was little reaction to this breach in the hush-hush of the talks either from Washington or Jeru-salem. However, shortly after the return of the Israeli delegation, a more accurate leakage of the document, publish-ed in the Hebrew daily Ha'Aretz evoked a strong reaction both from Washington and Damascus.

However, in a rare departure from Lebanese rhetoric, the prime minister wrote in a local Lebanese newspaper that he would be willing to provide security guarantees in the event of an Israeli withdrawal from the security zone. Upon his arrival in Israel after the second round of talks, Barak repeated his vow to redeploy Israeli troops from south Lebanon to the international border by summer, with or without an agreement with the Lebanese government.

Israel had hoped that as a result of its renewed negotiations with Syria, Damascus would pressure Hizbullah operating from Syrian-controlled territory, into a cessation of terrorist activities in the security zone. But that has not been the case. Despite a number of Israeli "gestures" -- including the return of Lebanese prisoners and bodies of Hizbullah fighters and a 72-hour ceasefire to allow the Red Cross to retrieve other terrorist bodies lying in the field--Hizbullah guerrilla activity in the zone has increased.

For the first time in years, Hizbullah exploded a suicide bomber -- in a residential area -- lightly wounding an IDF soldier and injuring 12 Lebanese including children. A few days later it exploded another device along the border fence with Israel, in which two soldiers were lightly wounded. And three Israeli-allied South Lebanese Army (SLA) soldiers have been killed in separate rocket, bomb and guerrilla attacks since the beginning of the year.

Astronomical figures as high as $65-$70 billion have appeared in newspapers both in Israel and the U.S. as estimates for the completion of the "peace process." An original forecasted amount of $17.5 billion was later said to be only enough to cover military expenses involved in purchasing state-of-the-art equipment, including an early warning system to replace the one on Mount Hermon and transferring army bases from the Golan Heights. Further monies would be needed to relocate civilians, transfer troops from Judea and Samaria and withdrawal from Lebanon -- not to mention money needed to aid the Palestinians and the ailing Syrian economy.

Shortly after Barak returned from talks with Shara in the U.S. about giving away the Golan Heights, it was revealed that the government was intending to turn over the Arab neighborhood of Abu Dis, bordering Jerusalem, to the full PA control in the next 6.1 percent handover of land to the Palestinians -- scheduled for January 20 but now postponed for several weeks. However, a muted public outcry put the skids on that plan, at least for now.

Clinton reassured Arafat that the Palestinian track was very much on everyone's agenda and acknowledged again that the U.S. views the Palestinian cause to be at the "core" of the Middle East conflict. Actually, as analysts have pointed out, the "core" of part of the Middle East conflict is that Israel's neighbors don't accept her existence. The other part of the conflict has nothing to do with Israel at all. It is fueled by inter-Arab competitions and the struggle between radical Islam and secular governments.

Barak and Arafat met two days before Arafat traveled to Washington against the backdrop of a terrorist attack in the northern, coastal town of Hadera. Twenty-five people were injured, all but one lightly, when a pipe bomb exploded in the busy downtown area during morning business hours. Just prior to the attack, Barak had warned the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to expect increased terrorism as the peace process proceeds. The Islamic Jihad for one -- a terrorist organization based in Damascus -- has openly proclaimed it will continue the armed struggle against Israel until all Palestinians have returned to "their" land.

Since mid-November, the PA had refused to accept the land that Israel was offering to transfer. The problem explained PA negotiator Saeb Erekat, was not that the PA wanted different land than it was being offered but simply that it wished to be consulted on the decision and not told what to do. Israel has maintained, and rightly so, from the beginning that it has the sole right to determine which land it will or will not transfer to the PA. In the end the land that Israel offered was the land the PA accepted.

Weizman, nephew of the first President Chaim Weizmann, a war hero and former politician, admitted immediately that he had received the gifts but said they were used to help fund treatment for his son who had been seriously wounded in the War of Attrition and who later died in an automobile accident. However, preliminary investigations revealed that Weizman had had business connections with Seroussi that had continued even after he became a Knesset member.

Weizman, 75, has pledged not to resign and "to fight for the truth." But as one analyst put it, guilty or not he will probably resign because it "smells so bad." Weizman, has been distinguished as one who visited every wounded soldier and bereaved soldier or terrorist victim's family. But he provoked the ire of many Israelis by taking advantage of his non-political office to openly support the peace process.

If, as proponents of the peace process desire, Israel gives up the Golan Heights and some 80% of Judea and Samaria to the PA, some 70% of Israel's water resources will be under Arab control, including the mountain aquifer in which desalinated water can be stored. Experts all agree on these facts, but as one analyst said, the difference is between those who believe they can entrust Israel's water supply to its former enemies and those who don't believe Israel can afford to take the risk.

Julie Stahl is the Jerusalem Bureau Chief for CNSNews.com