Could have been a maneuver to placate Obama

Submitted by PezDispenser (Israel), Oct 14, 2012 at 15:15

At the time, the Obama administration was in the midst of promoting the "daylight" policy between the US and Israel along with unprecedented pressure to give in on the Palestinian track. Since it was politically infeasible for Israel to give in after the failed one-year settlement expansion freeze, what better way to release pressure on the Palestinian front than by opening up a so-called peace-processing track with the Syrians that had low chances of success from the start? (I say "low chances" because the idea of splitting Syria from Iran was preposterous to realists even back then.)

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