News Analysis: Syria Showing Signs of Flexibility As Christopher Pushes for Progress

Syria has now agreed to the principle of Israel withdrawing in stages from the Golan Heights.

But beyond that principle, all else in the long-deadlocked negotiations between the two countries remains in dispute.

Nevertheless, both sides and their American go-between, Secretary of State Warren Christopher, are cautiously pleased with what has been achieved this week, and all are anxious for the talks to continue.

As a result, Christopher decided Tuesday to return to Damascus for a third and unscheduled session with Syrian leaders this week.

This rough, composite picture of the status of the negotations, based on Israeli and American sources, emerged during the secretary’s meetings here Tuesday with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

Christopher also made time to visit the newly autonomous town of Jericho, where he met with Palestinian leaders and voiced his pleasure that the accord Israel signed with the Palestine Liberation Organization in Cairo two weeks ago is moving quickly toward full implementation.

Syria’s agreement to a phased Israeli withdrawal from the Golan — one that reportedly would take place over three years — was published last weekend in the government-sponsored Syrian press.

But according to those same reports, Syria is still demanding a prior commitment from Israel for a total withdrawal from the strategic plateau. And Syria has refused to embark on measures toward normalization until that withdrawal is completed.

At least as important as the specific details in these reports is the fact that the Syrian government is providing — for the first time –relatively upbeat press “leaks” during a round of shuttle diplomacy.

According to highly placed Israeli sources, the Syrians are clearly intent on creating a positive atmosphere surrounding Christopher’s efforts. But it remains to be seen whether their purpose is merely to gratify the go-between or also to issue positive signals to the Israelis.

A SLOW INCHING FORWARD

Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Itamar Rabinovich, head of the long-stalled bilateral negotiations with Syria, said Tuesday that Christopher had brought to Jerusalem a series of point-by-point Syrian responses to Israeli questions and requests for clarification.

While there was no breakthrough, there was a slow inching forward, the envoy said.

Christopher himself dismissed suggestions Tuesday that his shuttling and the failure to reconvene the bilateral talks in Washington represented “a regression” in the peace process.

The American secretary characterized the talks this week as “more fundamental than before,” adding that they had entered “a new, substantive phase.”

Observers in the region and in Washington have long pondered the nature of the symbiosis between the Syrian and Palestinian negotiating tracks in the peace negotiations.

Conventional wisdom has had it that progress on one track would spur progress on the other. According to this theory, the recent Israeli-PLO agreement can now serve as a catalyst on the Syrian track.

Perhaps paradoxically, though, the opposite may equally be true: Problems, or anticipated problems, on one track may fuel expectations of progress on the other.

But there is no contradiction here. The two arguments may underlie the present U.S. push for progress between Jerusalem and Damascus.

Having notched up a major success on the Palestinian track with the implementation of autonomy in the Gaza Strip and West Bank town of Jericho, the Israeli government may now wish to move more slowly with the Palestinians and give autonomy more time to be tested.

The Americans and the Syrians may expect, at any rate, that this is Israel’s game plan.

But the Rabin government, with peace as its main policy plank, cannot allow both peace tracks to proceed slowly. As a result, whether triggered by the success of the new autonomy agreement or by fears of imminent paralysis on the Palestinian track, new and powerful political momentum is now being channeled into the Syrian track.

Christopher was at pains as he set out on this week’s shuttle to keep expectations muted. But he was equally anxious to signal that he intends to come back — many more times.