Fri, 05 May 2000

Campaign rolls on to get Syria on the peace train

By Brian Whitaker

LONDON: Efforts to revive the Syrian track of the Middle East peace process intensified on Wednesday as the foreign ministers of Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia gathered in the Syrian city of Palmyra for two days of talks.

Meanwhile Israel pressed ahead with its plans to pull out of Lebanon, with or without a Syrian peace deal. It is dismantling border posts and, according to the Foreign Office in London, has stopped military flights in Lebanese airspace.

Observers suggested that these developments could be an attempt either to step up the pressure on Syria's ailing president, Hafez al-Assad, or to wrong-foot opponents in Lebanon by withdrawing earlier than expected.

The Syrian negotiations have been on hold since President Bill Clinton and President Assad, meeting in Geneva in March, failed to break the impasse.

Since then there has been growing concern in the Arab states, and some European capitals that an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon could lead to more violence unless it was done within the framework of an overall deal with Syria.

The involvement of Egypt and Saudi Arabia at this stage appears to be an attempt to present a united Arab front to the Americans and Israelis.

The nub of the problem between Israel and Syria -- and, by extension, the key to a comprehensive settlement in the region -- is a small stretch of shoreline on the north-east corner of the Sea of Galilee.

The lake is an important source of water for Israel. Israel's claim to it is based on the border established between Palestine and Syria in 1923, at the time of the League of Nations mandate. This placed the whole of the lake in Palestine, together with a 10-metre strip around the water's edge.

Syria points out that Israel, from its establishment in 1948 until the war of 1967, had no access to the north-eastern part of the shore. The Syrians kept fishing boats there and their forces had control in that area, right down to the water's edge.

In the 1967 war the Israeli forces drove the Syrians back, occupied the Golan Heights, and gained control of the north-east shore.

In the Syrians' view, Israel should withdraw from that part of the shore so as not to derive any benefit from its aggression. President Assad has made this an issue of principle and cannot budge now without serious loss of face.

The issue is further complicated by the fact that the Israelis, after occupying the Golan, built a road around the lake. At the failed meeting a Geneva, President Clinton is reported to have proposed extending the 10-metre strip of shoreline to several hundred metres -- presumably to allow the Israelis to keep their road.

Several solutions have been proposed unofficially, most of them centered on either dual sovereignty or Syria sovereignty over the north-east shore without actual control.

Syria has said it would not use the sovereignty issue to deprive Israel of the water it wants.

-- Observer News Service