Despite Apparent Stalemate in Talks, Israel and Syria Find Room for Hope

Despite Syria’s announced rejection of an Israeli peace package and Israel’s characterization of Syrian counterproposals as “distant,” both sides and their middleman — U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher – still found grounds for some optimism in their exchanges this week.

That optimism was based in part on the fact that Syria reiterated its readiness for a full peace and normalization of relations with Israel, in return for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.

In conversations with Christopher over the weekend, Syrian President Hafez Assad was understood to have been more specific and detailed regarding the outlines of an eventual Israeli-Syrian peace than he ever has been before.

Assad’s specific responses included an unequivocal statement of readiness to enter into full diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

While Christopher cautiously stressed the great amount of work that needs to be done before any substantive breakthrough can be achieved, American and Israeli sources said they regarded the position enunciated by Assad to the secretary as an opening position, and as such, a basis for further negotiation.

In light of these hopes, it was announced here Tuesday that Christopher will return to the Middle East within two weeks to continue mediation efforts between Israel and Syria.

Israel’s foreign minister, Shimon Peres, has meanwhile told reporters that Jerusalem would be carefully studying the Syrian positions brought there by Christopher. He was apparently implying that Assad and his aides would do well to relate to the Israeli positions in the same way.

Christopher shuttled between Damascus and Jerusalem over the weekend, exchanging positions which both he and the two parties described as the most “substantive” in a long time in the long-stalled Israeli-Syrian negotiations.

The secretary and the Clinton administration have not hidden their desire to latch onto the momentum created by the Israeli-Palestine Liberation Organization agreement for establishing self-rule in the Gaza Strip and West Bank town of Jericho.

HOPING FOR MOMENTUM

The United States is hoping that the signing of that agreement, which was expected on Wednesday, will build up new momentum on the Israeli-Syrian track.

That track has been effectively idle since the Washington bilateral talks were suspended earlier this year following the Feb. 25 massacre by a Jewish settler of at least 29 Palestinians at a Hebron mosque.

Christopher’s visit this week did not produce a firm date for the resumption of those talks. With the announcement of another round of shuttle diplomacy this month, it is likely that the resumption will take place only after that second round.

Israeli sources indicated, moreover, that Assad has thus far shown no signs of responding to Rabin’s suggestions that the level of negotiators attending the bilateral dialogue be raised.

While the Israeli proposals transmitted through Christopher have not been officially published, they are widely reported to have included:

* A phased Israeli withdrawal from the Golan over several years, with the first, small phase to cover the Druse villages in the northern Golan. Each withdrawal phase is to elicit a phase of normalization in relations between the two countries.

* Security arrangements that would mean demilitarization and limitation of forces across the Golan itself and extending farther towards Damascus. Such provisions would be mutual but not symmetrical — that is, they would not extend to the same depth on the Israeli side.

* An Israeli referendum before any territorial withdrawal goes into effect.

* The extent of the final Israeli withdrawal, to be completed in eight years time, was not specified. Some Israeli ministers have made it clear they are prepared for complete evacuation of the Golan in return for full peace and normalization, after the test period and in the context of security arrangements. Rabin’s own position is unclear.

Syria countered with a public and private rejection of the phased withdrawal.

It also rejected the nation that there could be an exchange of ambassadors before full withdrawal from the Golan. Syria is also insisting on full symmetry in security arrangements.