Window still open for peace with Syria, Barak says

Barak greets Kok

April 2, 2000
Web posted at: 8:08 p.m. EDT (0008 GMT)

In this story: 'We want to push things towards peace' 'A huge amount of nervousness' Analysts say deal not impossible RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has reaffirmed that, while prospects of a broad peace with Syria are now slim, the window remains open for a few more weeks.

During a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Willem Kok on Sunday, Barak said, "Once it becomes clear that there is only a slight opening for an agreement with Syria, we move forward to implement our pullout from Lebanon."

Peace talks between Israel and Syria have been stalled since January, and U.S. President Bill Clinton failed to restart them last week during a Geneva summit with Syrian President Hafez Assad.

Underlining Israel's intention to withdraw unilaterally from south Lebanon in the absence of a general agreement comes news that Israel will shore up its military outposts along its border with Lebanon.

'We want to push things towards peace'

In Lebanon itself, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa denounced a suggestion made on Saturday by Lebanese Defense Minister Ghazi Zueiter that Syria could send troops into south Lebanon if Israel withdraws unilaterally.

"It is wrong when some of us make statements," al-Sharaa said, "that leave a negative effect and help Israel push matters in an unfriendly direction. We want to push things towards peace."

On Sunday, Barak told his Cabinet he did not think a Syrian redeployment would be practical and that Damascus was unlikely to go through with it, his office said.

"Zueiter's statement reflects a certain distress on the other side," Barak's office quoted him as saying.

Zueiter later said his remarks were taken out of context and that he was expressing his own opinion.

Several Cabinet ministers warned Syria not to redeploy its army to the south, though each was careful to express doubt as to whether the Syrian army would take up Zueiter's suggestion.

Communications Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said if Syria moved into south Lebanon it would be crossing the "red line" accepted in 1976 by Assad in an agreement with the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and mediated by U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Under this agreement, Syrian forces in Lebanon would not cross a line north of the city of Sidon. Syria has complied with the agreement to date.

'A huge amount of nervousness'

Israeli political analyst Ehud Yaari said, "What we are witnessing is a huge amount of nervousness and embarrassment on the Syrian-Lebanese side.

"They were betting on being able to use the Lebanese card in order to get a better deal from Barak on the Golan (Heights)."

Barak had hoped as part of a peace agreement to secure a promise from Syria to prevent Hezbollah guerrilla attacks on the Israeli border in return for Israel giving back the Golan, which it captured in the 1967 Mideast war. But the talks broke down over the extent of the territorial concession.

Analysts say deal not impossible

Although the Israeli leadership is still digesting the implications of the fruitless summit between Clinton and Assad, a deal is not yet deemed hopeless, say analysts close to Barak.

"Barak feels Assad does not have a better option than to make a deal with him, simply because Assad's son Bashar cannot succeed his father unless he comes to power with a purse full of dollars," said Yaari.

Supreme power in Damascus still lies with the aging President Assad, who has ruled Syria for three decades. Waiting in the wings, however, is Bashar, a British- trained ophthalmologist.

"It's a domestic imperative for the Syrian regime to conclude a deal," said Yaari. "We still have a fair chance of reaching an Israeli-Syrian deal between now and mid-May.

"If not, I believe we are probably going to witness an attempt at controlled escalation along the Israel-Lebanon border."

Barak is also thought unwilling to write off prospects of a deal with Syria because it is a key element in his strategy.

He is said to regard it as essential in prodding the Palestinians into a framework peace agreement and in selling a comprehensive peace to skeptical Israelis.

If talks with the Syrians do not resume by May, Barak's office says Israel's Cabinet will convene to decide on a unilateral withdrawal.

Barak told reporters that while he hoped for an international presence along the Israeli-Lebanese border after a withdrawal, "this must be left to the United Nations and other parties ... we are not the ones to deal with that."

Correspondent Jerrold Kessel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Syrian Arab Republic Ministry of Information
Office of the Israeli prime minister
Lebanon's Presidential Palace

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