No hope for Golan agreement while Assad remains

“I am convinced Assad has lost his legitimacy as a ruler and therefore also the right to demand the Golan back at any time. This will be the case even if he succeeds in remaining in power,” he says.

Liel also points to the paradox of Israel, the most dominant military force in the Middle East, being entirely powerless to influence the struggle continuing just a few kilometres from its border.

While the Arab League, the European Union and the United Nations through its special envoy, former Secretary General Kofi Annan, have all been active in trying to seek a settlement, Israel can only be a spectator. Any attempt by it to intervene would wreak political havoc and lead to the Arab world being forced to get in behind the bloody Assad regime.

But Liel says that apart from expressing deep sorrow at the carnage and condemning Assad for the killings, the Israeli Government can make a humanitarian gesture by opening the Golan Heights to civilian refugees.

“We cannot lose,” he says. “If the outstretched hand comes in contact with a cold shoulder on the part of the Syrian population, we will have at least demonstrated out good will.

“And if Syrian citizens do come to the Golan in order to find refuge, perhaps we will be able to begin to change our relationship with the Syrian people in the long term.”

At the time of writing, the current ceasefire, brokered by Annan, is looking decidedly shaky, with fighting continuing in some areas and Assad showing no signs of pulling his heavy armour off the streets. The opposition remains too fragmented and poorly armed to win the battle in the streets and overthrow the Government and there is no stomach for a Libyan-style intervention by either the United States or Europe.

So Assad is safe for the moment, perhaps even for the long term, but one thing is certain – as long as he or anyone who espouses his style of government, remains in power in Damascus, they will look to the south and see the Israeli flag firmly planted on the Golan.