Israel is Seeking Clarification on Reagan’s Letter to Assad

Israel is seeking “clarification” from the U.S. of a recent letter President Reagan sent to President Hafez Assad of Syria, reportedly intimating that Washington would include the return of the Golan Heights to Syria on the agenda of broadened Middle East peace negotiations based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 242.

Israeli policy-makers were not reassured by the assertion of Administration officials that Reagan’s message to Assad contained nothing new and was no more than a reiteration of longstanding American positions on the meaning of Resolution 242 and its application to all aspects of the Middle East conflict.

Radio Monte Carlo, an Arabic-language radio station in Paris, reported that Reagan sent his letter to Assad on Sunday, April 17, on the occasion of Syria’s National Day which celebrates its independence at the end of the French mandate. According to this report, Reagan emphasized that the U.S. is determined to expand Middle East negotiations based on Resolution 242 which he said, deals with the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights, in order to establish real peace in the region.

HINTS ABOUT THE GOLAN HEIGHTS

State Department deputy spokesman Alan Romberg refused to make public the contents of Reagan’s letter but said the Syrians could do so if they wished. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Reagan had “hinted” to Syria that the U.S. may demand that return of the Golan Heights be included in any future peace negotiations.

The Knesset voted in December, 1981, to apply Israeli law to the Golan Heights, an act viewed in most quarters as de-facto annexation of the territory captured from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.

The Journal article, by correspondent David Ignatius, was based on the Reagan letter, the partial text of which was published in Arabic over the weekend by the official Syrian news agency, SANA.

Ignatius, reporting from Beirut, quoted SANA as saying Reagan wrote:

“We believe that the best way to serve the future of your country and the prosperity of your people is by reaching a peaceful and just settlement to the problems of the region … Therefore, I shall continue to work for expanded negotiations on the basis of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which calls for the exchange of territory for real peace and applies to the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights.”

TIMING IS MOST DISTURBING

What is most disturbing, according to Israeli sources, is not only the contents of the message but its timing. The Israelis apparently fear that the U.S., having failed to draw King Hussein of Jordan into negotiations over the West Bank, may now be considering broadened negotiations which would embrace the Golan Heights to try to induce Syria into the peace process, and possibly the Soviet Union, now Syria’s main arms supplier.

Such a strategy would inevitably increase tensions between Israel and Washington, the sources pointed out. When Israel applied its laws to the Golan Heights, Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir insisted that negotiations still could be held with Syria without preconditions. But Israel has made it clear that it has no intention ever to relinquish the Golan Heights.

Shamir said at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting that the Reagan letter was apparently intended to improve the climate of U.S.-Syrian relations in order to advance prospects for the the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon.

The U.S. and Israel both hope that once an agreement is reached between Israel and Lebanon on withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, the Syrians will cooperate by making a simultaneous withdrawal of their own troops from Lebanon and that the remaining units of the Palestine Liberation Organization would leave with them.

But Israeli policymakers are anxious that American efforts to improve relations with Damascus do not lead Washington into pledging concessions from Israel which it cannot deliver.

CONCERN ABOUT SYRIANS’ MILITARY PREPARATIONS

Defense Minister Moshe Arens told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee today of “worrying military preparations” by Syria. But he conceded that Israel is not certain whether those measures were being taken in preparation for aggression against Israel or for defense against a feared attack on Syria by Israel.

Arens warned on a television interview a week ago that the Israeli army must be alert and vigilant on the eastern front in Lebanon because of military moves on the Syrian side of the line. He said at the time that “this does not mean there will be war” but the possibility could not be ruled out and Israel must keep on guard.

Meanwhile, tensions were heightened by the presence of two Soviet electronic surveillance ships in positions just off the Israeli and Lebanese coasts. They were first reported by Haaretz and Israel Television filmed them from a low-flying plane.

Israeli sources said the “spy ships” are capable of monitoring all broadcasts inside Israel and Lebanon. Such vessels off Israeli coastal waters are not new, but Moscow normally employs only one in the eastern Mediterranean.