Assad and rebels are stuck in a black hole over Syria

It's not just about anti-terrorism issues, the ongoing Geneva talks should look at ways of ensuring political transition in the war-torn country

There is a hole in the street immediately in front of the doorway to my apartment block. It is a manhole with no cover, which I can only presume was stolen either by a Syrian refugee in need of a couple of dollars or a Lebanese neighbour who is also facing hard times. The Syrian war has devastated the Lebanese economy and 'midnight thieving' is becoming more common even in my pristine neighbourhood where most Lebanese don't even believe they are Arabs and often speak French with one another. I know. Don't get me started on the whole 'I'm a Phoenician, get me outta here' debate. The hole is more important.
That gaping black chasm is a metaphor for everything that is wrong in the Middle East. No one wants to accept responsibility for it. It's approximately 60cm in diameter and represents a real risk to someone's health especially given that the street light immediately above it hasn't worked for a number of months. The problem is that no one in this tiny country thinks of themselves as part of a single, working state or society so therefore those who actually work for any given ministry don't give two hoots either about civic responsibility. It's a vicious circle. It's perfectly common here to telephone a government ministry and for no one to pick the phone up. I'm not kidding.
How many public officials does it take to change a lightbulb in Lebanon? And who will accept responsibility when my neighbour on the first floor, an elderly lady in her 70s, falls into it and breaks her hip? It troubles me more and more each day as I pass it. Although there are days when I want to jump into it, I admit.
But getting people in this part of the world to accept responsibility - not even for their own slip ups but just responsibility, period. This should be the theme of the UN-brokered Syria peace talks which just kicked off in Geneva. If we had an audit of who did what, who funded whom and who killed the most, perhaps this would be a more logical basis for talks rather than the present ones. The peace talks don't need charismatic individuals to jet in and deliver the sound bites. It needs a team of auditors and international lawyers to present a tally of crime, destruction and killing.
On the eve of the talks themselves I glance at my Facebook page and see a selfie of an established woman Beirut-based journalist working for an international newspaper as she sits on the plane heading to Switzerland. Next to her out of shot is her female colleague from the same international newspaper. And a third one, from a rival international journal joins the chat. They are chatting about the happy selfie of the first one and where the third one is staying, teasing one another about which hotel either is at. I look at this and wonder is it that journalism became such a joke profession in the last 20 years or is it that the UN - and anything the UN organizes or presides over - is the real culprit. These ladies were going on an all-girls holiday in Europe, snap-chatting all the way.
Yet even today, the opposition is stuck on regime change. Hilariously, it's as though the argument has more gravitas now than it did, say, in 2014 when at least they had more ground on the battlefield. But for the regime also, there is a surrender of logic. Assad's officials also run with the theme of 'presenting totally unrealistic demands and using terms which are widely open to confusion and misuse'. Nasr Hariri, the head of the Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee claims that the "Syrian government delegation's fixation on anti-terrorism issues at the ongoing Geneva settlement talks means shunning away from political transition for the war-torn country".
To blithely use the words "terrorism" and "counter-terrorism" in a guerrilla war seems an exercise in extreme futility, much like expecting "responsibility" and "accountability" to also be keynote points. It's as though the Syrian regime is stuck in an echo chamber. If it keeps repeating these moronic terms of reference, perhaps magically the international press will suddenly start copying and pasting its press releases, before rushing off to the shops to get that special backless dress that has caught your attention.
But neither the Assad regime nor the opposition can even agree on who should take possession of the vocabulary or the terminology.
Earlier, Syrian government delegation chief Bashar Jaafari stated that "counterterrorism" was a priority on the agenda across all Syrian peace talks platforms.
"We were the first ones to condemn terrorism. We are here to combat terrorism," Nasr Hariri, representing the opposition, replied.
According to Hariri, Iran, which is one of the guarantors of Astana talks, is not a friend of Syria, as it is allegedly a "supporter of terrorism."
"What do they (Damascus delegation) mean by sponsors of terrorism? Do they mean Friends of Syria? Or is it actually Iran who is the first sponsor and supporter of terrorism?" Hariri said.
And so on and so forth. The Assad regime is talking about any opposition groups which attack its army; the opposition is talking about Hezbollah which surely played a huge role in keeping the Syrian president in power. It's as though neither side wants to reach any point of common ground and is deliberately pontificating over words, although words are powerful. It's as though both sides want to hide in my black hole. They're welcome to it. Just bring your own cover.
- Martin Jay recently won the U.N.'s prestigious Elizabeth Neuffer Memorial Prize (UNCA) in New York, for his journalism work in the Middle East.
He is based in Beirut and can be followed at@MartinRJay