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counters that they can embrace
areas of any dimension that Is-
rael deems necessary for its na-
tional security. In geographical
terms, there's a huge difference.
It is thus conceivable that the
time left for tackling the tough
issues of the permanent settle-
ment, the future of the settle-
ments, the status of Jerusalem,
and the rights of the Palestinian
refugees, could be spent haggling
over the how to implement the
interim one.
But the really daunting chal-
lenge is how to make headway
with Syria.

Itamar Rabinovich: A key player.

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74

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Israeli-Syrian negotiations
have been on hold for almost a
year. President Clinton appar-
ently has asked Mr. Netanyahu
to propose some ideas, during his
upcoming visit to Washington,
on how to get them going.
Mr. Netanyahu told the
French daily Le Figaro that from
Israel's standpoint the Golan
Heights, like Jerusalem, are not
be subject to negotiation. "We
must keep the Golan for strate-
gic, historic and economic rea-
sons," he is quoted as saying.
Syria promptly fired back by
demanding that Israel agree to
a full withdrawal from Golan as
a condition for resuming the
talks. Once both sides had de-

dared their maximalist positions,
Mr. Neta.nyahu took step two by
denying the quote in Le Figaro
and stressing that rather than
place conditions on the talks,
both sides should meet around
the bargaining table and raise
whatever issues they choose.
But Syrian President Hafez el-
Assad has made it amply clear
that he wants to pick up where
the talks left off last spring. That
means confirming the under-
standing reached on the securi-
ty arrangements to be built into
a future peace treaty.
This document, the main
achievement of the four years of
Israeli-Syrian negotiations, was
not signed by the two sides. Thus,
Mr. Netanyahu does not regard
it as a formal agreement or con-
sider himself bound to it.
In this, too, it now transpires,
he has the backing of the United
States. The daily Ha'aretz re-
vealed Secretary Christopher
sent Mr. Netanyahu a secret let-
ter conceding that, from the
standpoint of international law,
the non-paper is not binding on
the present Israeli government.
Itamar Rabinovich, formerly
Israel's ambassador to the Unit-
ed States and a key player in the
talks with the Syrians, concurs.
"You can insist that a ,govern-
ment, democratic or otherwise,
honor the commitments made its
predecessor; but you can't de-
mand that it adopt its predeces-
sor's political posture," he said in
an interview this week.
What is needed, he said, is an
expression of the desire to return
to the negotiations.
"Once that is clear, the specif-
ic terms ,become less important.
If the Syrians let up on [their] de-
mand, and if Israel displays a
readiness to move toward Syria,
with American help, it will be
possible to resume the talks."
At this point, neither side is
making any gesture toward ac-
commodating the other. But with
a Hebron deal done, at least the
prospect of resuming the talks is
on the table again. 0

The Center Takes Hold

Israel's leader is heading where three in four citizens
want him to be, say the polls.

LARRY DERFNER ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT

I

n their clothing shop in
Dizengoff Center, Yael and
Margie, both lifelong sup-
porters of Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud
Party, were discussing the He-
bron agreement.
"We've always been at war,"
Yael said. "Maybe we have to
give this a chance. Maybe this is
a different generation of Pales-
tinians; maybe we can get them

to understand that throwing
rocks isn't the way."
Yael was the quieter one in the
debate, on the defensive.
"What are you talking about?"
Margie demanded. "Now they
have Hebron, Gaza, Shechem [the
biblical name for Nablus], and
next they're going to want
Jerusalem, Haifa, Acre and Jaf-
fa. You can't trust the Arabs, ever."

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