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BESSER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT For more than a year, Israeli offi- cials have wrung their hands over growing divisions in the Ameri- can Jewish community on the touchy question of Middle East peace. In the past month, Israeli lead- ers have sought to use the assas- sination of Yitzhak Rabin at the hands of an Orthodox Jew as a graphic example about how dis- unity can breed extremism — a lesson that was forgotten as groups on both sides of the peace process issue promptly resumed their version of mortal combat. That battle is almost certain to escalate to a new and even high- er emotional pitch as Syrian and Israeli negotiators prepare for next week's intensive private ne- gotiations — sessions that will ei- ther produce the first real progress on the Syrian-Israeli front or just another round of posturing by Syr- ia's maddening President Hafez Assad. The debate will be particular- ly bitter because of the long- standing indoctrination of American Jews about the strate- gic necessity of holding on to the Golan Heights and because of the increased American role that the Syrian-Israeli talks will require. Before "land for peace" became official Israeli doctrine, there was always the implication that West Bank territory was negotiable un- der the right circumstances — but that retaining the Golan Heights was a matter of military necessi- ty that precluded its use as part of the ante in any negotiations. In recent years, the Israeli gov- ernment has quietly argued that new technologies and new politi- cal realities have diminished the importance of the Heights. Syria is bristling with missiles, and there is little debate that the Damascus regime can already couple its missiles to chemical and biological warheads, with a nu- clear capability not far behind. At the same time, all kinds of new defensive technologies may help compensate Israel for the loss of the high ground. Israeli leaders may be right when they say that these new fac- tors — coupled with the undeni- able fact that any new war in the region is likely to be suicidal for all participants in this era of non- conventional mayhem — justify taking serious risks for peace. And that means they will have to confront head-on the opposition forces in Israel that are already bombarding the American Jew- ish community with their strate- gic vision for the Heights. Israeli officials may long for uni- ty among American Jews. But the Golan debate will be an inherently divisive one, inflamed still further by Likud leaders who see Amer- ican Jewry as one more front in their battle against the Peres gov- ernment. So the embassy will have to decide which is more important: an illusory veneer of unity, or real support based on a serious de- bate focusing on fact, not emo- tion. A second factor involves the expanding role of the United States in the peace process. Unlike the Israeli-Palestinian breakthrough in Oslo in 1993, which took place without Amer- ican participation, the decision to resume Syrian-Israeli nego- tiations was almost solely a prod- uct of tireless diplomacy by the Clinton administration. When the talks resume next week at a secret location outside Wash- ington, the administration's Mideast team will be at the table — a significant change in the for- mat of bilateral negotiations be- tween the two countries. There is also the strong possi- bility that Syrian and Israeli ne- gotiators will create solutions to their decades-old conflict involv- ing an active American military presence along their border. At the same time, Israel is hinting of changing its strategic relationship with the United States into something approach- ing a full-blown military alliance, a change apparently intended to make it easier for Shimon Peres to sell a Syrian-Israeli deal to ner- vous constituents. For years, Israel maintained a stubborn independence, no matter how close its military and diplomatic ties to Washington, and no matter how big its foreign aid allotment. The underlying assumptions of that relationship have not changed — that Israel fights its own wars, takes its own chances, makes its own decisions about the quest for peace. As the Jew- ish people have learned over the centuries, relying others for their protection is the worst kind of se- curity. The expanding American role may be justified by the high stakes in these negotiations. But it will also make it easier for right-wing Jewish groups to make common cause with con- servative legislators who are hos- tile to any American overseas involvement — an alliance that will add to the heat of the debate, and possibly to its ability to dis- rupt U.S.-Israeli relations.