Barak faces internal opposition as talks with Syria take a break.

Ai Ear(' Sell

DAVID LANDAU
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jerusalem

T

MR

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ARE

he estimated
100,000 demonstra-
tors who turned out
this week in a cold
rain in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square
do not necessarily represent the
majority of Israelis.
But Monday night's protest
provided an impressive show of
strength by those opposed to
withdrawing from the Golan
Heights as part of any peace
deal with Syria.
Indeed, according to Tel
Aviv University Professor E
Ya'ar, if a planned referendum
on a Golan withdrawal were
held now, the anti-withdrawal
forces would carry the day.
This was the sobering reality
4,W
to which Prime Minister Ehud
Barak returned Tuesday, after 10 More than 100,000
said, will be determined
days of less-than-productive
by how far Syria goes to
Israelis demonstrate
talks with Syrian Foreign
normalize. relations
in Tel Aviv Monday
Minister Farouk al-Sharaa in the against the return of
with Israel and to assure
sleepy West Virginia town of
the strategic Golan
secure borders.
Shepherdstown.
Heights, the likely
Next week's round
concession for peace
Barak sent Foreign Minister
of talks in the United
with Syria. Leaders
David Levy back to Israel on
States coincides with a
of the 17,000 Israelis
Sunday to assure the public,
planned.visit by
who live on the Golan Palestinian Authority
before the demonstration, that
Heights welcomed
no agreement on a withdrawal
President Yasser Arafat
their supporters in
had been reached.
to the White House.
"There was no real progress," the square in front
For the past few
of Tel Aviv city hall.
Levy declared. "Nothing was
weeks, Arafat has per-
settled, nothing conceded."
sistently urged
In a television interview on Tuesday,
President Clinton — and Barak -- ,
Barak repeated that position and said
not to lose momentumin the Israeli
he expected the-talks to reach a "deci-
Palestinian negotiations because of the
sive stage" when they resume next
resumption of the long-dormant
week. Brushing aside comments about
Syrian track.
who should be shaking hands with
Barak and Arafat have committed
whom, he said the time for those ges-
themselves to achieve a framework
tures will come when a treaty is agreed.
agreement on permanent peace by the
More significantly in light of the
middle of next month.
protests, he insisted that his negotiators
Some of the premier's aides are said
had not talked in depth about borders
to be telling him that this timetable,
and had made no commitment to with-
always considered ambitious, is now
draw from the Golan Heights. The
unrealistic given the time and effort h _ e
amount of land that would be ceded, he
is investing in the Syrian talks.

H is

.

1/14

2000

22

election promise "to end 100
years of conflict between Arabs
and Israelis."
z
Alternatively, a deal with
Syria, while the Palestinian
track remains static, would risk
leaving the Palestinian track
unresolved — and this could
deter voters from supporting a
deal with Damascus.
For the moment, though, the
Syrian deal still looks uncertain
not only because of domestic
skepticism, but because the
negotiations so far appear to
have produced less than had
been hoped for.
In Shepherdstown, the Syrians
leaked to the Arabic newspaper
al-Hayyat what purported to be
the text of an American paper
setting out areas of agreement
and of disagreement.
The paper reported that
Israel had agreed to withdraw
from the Golan to the interna-
tional border of 1923. But both
Israeli and U.S. officials insisted that
Barak had not agreed to this — let
alone to the Syrian demand for a
withdrawal to the border that existed
on the eve of the 1967 Six-Day
War, a move that would
give Damascus control
of the eastern shore
of the Sea of
Galilee.
Barak's aides
say Israel and
Syria have yet to
agree on the cru-
cial issue of secu-
rity, and that the
extent of the
Golan withdrawal
would be deter-
mined largely in light
of that issue.
But the Israelis do
not deny that a committee on
borders had convened in
Shepherdstown — and presumably
discussed the Syrian border demands.

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v adbAtitatia,:.1

This argument assumes that Barak,
for domestic political reasons, will want
to separate the two tracks, focusing first
on the Syrian agreement and trying to
get that through a referendum, and
only later turning to the final peace
accord with the Palestinians.
But there is another
school of thought that
suggests the premier
would do better in
securing Israeli
public support
by trying to
reach agreement
on both tracks
simultaneously.
He could
then hold a ref-
erendum on a
comprehensive
peace package that
includes withdrawals
from the Golan, from
southern Lebanon and on the
West Bank, with the complex issue of
Jerusalem perhaps left open for further
negotiation.
This approach could realize Barak's

HARD SELL on page 25

