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\-,

`-,

with reports that Hezbollah (a
Syrian proxy in South Lebanon)
has acquired Katyusha rockets
capable of hitting targets as far
south as Acre and perhaps even
the suburbs of Haifa, renewing
talks with Syria has become
more pressing.
Mr. Netanyahu wants to start
negotiations from square one,
sidestepping the understandings
reached between Mr. Assad and
the Rabin-Peres administra-
tions. The Syrians believed that
the Labor government was pre-
pared to withdraw from the
Golan Heights; the main dis-
agreement was whether the
pullback would be to the 1948
international border or to the
frontier at the outbreak of the
1967 Six-Day War.
After three years of negotia-
tions, the two sides also reached
an understanding on the princi-
ples underlying the "security
arrangements" to build into a
peace treaty ("reciprocity"
though not "symmetry"). These
were summarized in a "non-pa-
per" — diplomatic jargon for an
agreed but unsigned under-
standing.
Mr. Netanyahu, on the other
hand, ran on a platform reject-
ing Israeli withdrawal from the
Golan. Because it was never
signed, and therefore lacks legal
standing, he does not feel oblig-
ed to honor the "non-paper."
Instead, he wants to launch
a new construct of bi-leveled ne-
gotiations aimed at reaching a
peace treaty while simultane-
ously creating a regional secu-
rity system. According to this
new approach, proposed by his
top foreign policy adviser, Dore
Gold, the talks to be resumed
would be based on Israel's offer
to withdraw from Lebanon in
return for security arrange-
ments guaranteed by Syria, and
negotiate on the future of the
Golan Heights. Israel would also
commit to an understanding
that any future peace treaty
with Lebanon — indeed any
comprehensive peace in the
Middle East — will be condi-
tional on the conclusion of a
peace agreement with Syria.
The second tier would be a se-
ries of separate working groups
to discuss such issues as secu-
rity arrangements, economics,
water, energy, and human re-
sources. Like the multilateral
talks that grew out of the
Madrid Conference (in which
Syria and Lebanon have refused
to participate), these groups
could be expanded to include
other Arab states. Envisioned
as the instruments for ulti-
mately creating the Middle
Eastern Regional Security Sys-
tem, they also would serve as
a safety net for the bilateral
talks. Thus, even if the initial
negotiations foundered, Israel
and Syria could still conclude
agreements on specific issues. ❑

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