riendl Fire

ERIC SILVER
Israel Correspondent

Jerusalem

N

o general relishes waging war on two
fronts. Ex-general Ehud Barak's night-
mare is that he is currently fighting for
peace on so many fronts that it's hard to
keep count from one day to the next.
The Israeli prime minister has resumed direct
negotiations with the Palestinians. Another 6.1 per
cent of the West Bank, including at least two Arab
villages on the outskirts
of Jerusalem, is due to
be handed to
Palestinian Authority
Chairman Yasser Arafat
any time now, and
more Palestinian pris-
oners will be released
soon to mark Id el-
.Adha, the Muslim
Feast of the Sacrifice.
Through the good
offices of Uncle Sam,
Barak is also trying to
draw the Syrians back
to the table. And he is
forging ahead with
plans to pull Israeli
troops out of Lebanon
by July, with or with-
out an agreement.
That's three fronts
to start with. But the
prime minister is also
engaged in a debilitat-
ing war of attrition on
the domestic front.
The Likud, still reeling from the defeats and defec-
tions of former Prine Minister Bibi Netanyahu's
reign, has latched on to a prospective Golan with-
drawal — and any hint of concessions around
Jerusalem --- to rehabilitate its own fortunes.
Week after week, it is laying parliamentary
ambushes and promoting votes of no confidence —
legitimate enough for a democratic opposition, even
if that same opposition claimed when it was in gov-
ernment a year ago that it was pursuing identical
peace objectives and was ready (or so it said) to
make similar sacrifices.

the right under Netanyahu, are consistently voting
against their own government. As Likud politicians
gloat, it is as if the Sephardi Orthodox Shas, the
National Religious Party and Natan Sharansky's
Yisrael B'aliya have rejoined the "National Camp."
Perhaps they never really left it.
In early March, the opposition humiliated Barak
by winning a majority on the preliminary reading of
a bill to weight the promised Golan referendum
against a deal with Syria. This week, it came within
three votes of a no-confidence resolution censuring
the government for proposing to introduce the

Barak's toughest
opponents are his
own coalition
partners,

Creating Disarray

The Likud's chances of bringing down the adminis-
tration are minuscule, but its guerrilla tactics are
sapping Barak's authority and throwing his five-party
coalition into disarray.
Three of his partners, all of whom identified with

3/17

Conflicting Polls

Assad's journalistic stalking horse,
Patrick Seale, said during a visit to
Israel this week that the Syrian presi-
dent doubted whether Barak was
strong enough to make a deal.
The latest opinion polls tell a confus-
ing, but instructive, tale. One, commis-
sioned by Tel-Aviv University, found 60
per cent of Israelis ready to quit the
Golan in return for a secure peace.
Another, commissioned by the national
works of Mahmoud Darwish,
Above, Israeli Prime Minister
religious Bar-Ilan University, found 60
the Palestinian national poet,
Ehud Barak's government
per cent against withdrawal to -the east-
into the Israeli high school cur-
defeated parliamentary
no-confidence motions on
em shore of the Sea of Galilee.
riculum.
social issues and peace talks.
It all depends on how you formu-
Barak is just about keeping his
late the question. But it also tells
head, but some of his closest One
both Barak and Assad that even if
Israel colleagues are showing their
Israelis are reconciled to giving up
frustration. Ophir Pines, the
coalition whip, said: "We cannot function like this.
the heights, they do not want to see Syrian soldiers
The coalition stumbles from one crisis to the next."
dipping,their feet in the Kinneret — or controlling
Added Communications Minister Binyamin Ben-
half the lake, as they would under international law
Eliezer: "The coalition may be masochistic, but I am
once they were established as a riparian power. The
no longer prepared to be a masochist. If they voted
famous "line of June 4, 1967," on which Syria
against once or twice, that wouldn't be so bad, but
insists, has still to be drawn. And it won't be easy.
three days every week is intolerable."
In the best-case scenario, Barak may now be able
to play off Assad against Arafat in parallel negotia-
tions. But in the worst case, they may each erect
New Partners?
stumbling blocks on the road to a "good peace." It
With Barak's blessing, his aides are sounding out
wouldn't be the first time. El
potential new partners — One Nation, led by Amir

,, • •

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28

Peretz, a former. Labor Knesset member and current
head of the Histadrut trade unions; Democratic
Choice, a breakaway from Sharansky, led by Roman
Bronfman; and the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox
United Torah Judaism. Among them, these three
control nine Knesset seats.
Although many observers doubt whether he is in
earnest, the prime minister's confidante are hinting
that such recruits would be more than enough to
replace Yisrael B'aliya, which is left with only four
seats. Sharansky's team was sufficiently intimidated
to abstain rather than vote against on Darwish.
Israel radio's political commentator, Hanan
Kristal, suggested this week that Barak's real secret
weapon was a "good" peace with the Syrians and the
Palestinians that would enable him to call a snap
election and win hands down. He would then be
able to build a new, more congenial, coalition and
get on with the unfinished business of Israel.
It's an appealing scenario for the beleaguered
peaceniks, but still way beyond the
horizon. Hafez Assad continues to play
hard to get. He is demanding every-
thing and offering little, while encour-
aging Hizbollah and Palestinian dissi-
• dents to harass Israeli troops and their
South Lebanese Army allies.
In what Regional Cooperation
•
Minister
Shimon Peres derided as the
•
"theater of the absurd," Syria also
incited the Arab League last weekend
to denounce an Israeli withdrawal
from "occupied" southern Lebanon
because it would deprive Assad of a
valuable bargaining card.

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