Lowey talks Syria, sort of

Rep. Nita Lowey gave an interesting answer Tuesday when asked about prospects for Israeli peace with Syria — but then said she actually didn’t really know what she was talking about.

Appearing before the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism’s Consultation on Conscience Tuesday morning on Capitol Hill, the chairwoman of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittee was asked what she heard about Syria on her trip last week to the Middle East.

"That wasn’t discussed at all," she said, adding that she had been discouraged from going to Syria by the fact that those in Congress who had recently been there "got zippo in return." She said administration representatives had received a similar reception, and thus "I’m not prepared to say anything about Syria."

When her questioner said her answer had actually "said a lot," she responded, "But I really don’t know anything."

In fact, this report from Laura Rozen on ForeignPolicy.com from last Friday notes that the Obama administration is very much still involved in engagement efforts with Syria, and has received some reciprocal gestures, as well:

It’s the first time the U.S. government has sent officials to grace the event in six years. The top U.S. diplomat attending tonight’s festivities is Obama’s recently nominated assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, Amb. Jeffrey Feltman, along with other less senior officials.

The Lebanese embassy received an invitation to the event as well, if only yesterday, a Washington Middle East hand heard.

Feltman and Daniel Shapiro, the NSC senior director for the Middle East and North Africa, met with Syrian foreign ministry officials in Damascus last month.

But the Obama administration appears to be proceeding cautiously and without great haste towards greater engagement with Damascus.

"They are going extremely slowly — and with good reason," said David Schenker, a former Pentagon Syria and Lebanon analyst now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Schenker said the Obama administration made a few under-the-radar gestures toward Syria early in the term — allowing the sale of spare parts of 747s that had previously been banned under the Syria Accountability Act, and permitting money transfers to a Syrian children’s cancer charity affiliated with the wife of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president.

Among signs of reciprocity the United States has observed from Syria to date: better diplomatic access for U.S. embassy staff and visitors, the reopening of the American Language Center, initial help toward acquiring property to build a new embassy, and a general change of tone about the U.S.