U.S., Israel make peace overtures to Syria

By Nomi Bar-Yaacov

WASHINGTON (AFP): Extending a hand to Syria, the United States and Israel began this week an ambitious drive to get the Middle East peace process back on track with a new strategic approach to the region's most intractable problems.

In meetings with U.S. President Bill Clinton, the newly- elected Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak sought to project himself as a man with the vision and the wherewithal to make a dream of peace between Jews and Arabs come true.

And the U.S. president, with only 18 months left in office and anxious to inscribe an historic Mideast peace pact in his legacy, was happy to endorse Barak and his promised effort to revive the region's stalled negotiations.

"The qualities that you have and the experiences you have known have shaped a leader of extraordinary breadth and depth," Clinton said as he raised his glass to Barak at a White House state dinner on Sunday.

Clinton paid tribute to Barak as "a decorated warrior, but who like another decorated warrior, Yitzhak Rabin, has the courage to make peace; the humanity to treat old adversaries with dignity and fairness."

Even before his five-day visit to the United States began last week, it was clear that the personal chemistry between Barak and Clinton could play an important role in the character of evolving U.S.-Israeli relations.

But it was their common focus on Syria as the key ingredient in jump-starting the Mideast peace process that emerged as the most unifying feature of the Barak visit.

At a joint news conference Monday, Clinton echoed Barak's desire for better ties with the leadership in Damascus.

"We, too, would like more normal relations with Syria, and we would like Syria to be reconciled to all its neighbors in the region," Clinton said.

Asked about reports that Syria was already preparing the ground for a new relationship with Israel -- notably by urging Islamic extremist groups to halt attacks on Israel -- both men indicated this would be positive if true.

"If ... the Syrians really asked the terror organizations to reduce their level of activity, if that is true, it is of course good news for all of us," Barak said.

Clinton agreed, and said any verified move by Damascus to distance itself from terrorism would be a "positive step" toward improved relations with the United States.

The U.S. president also said he now saw a "golden opportunity" for Syrian President Hafez al-Assad to become more closely involved in the Middle East peace negotiations.

Throughout the Barak visit, both U.S. and Israeli officials emphasized the need to establish a new partnership with Syria, not only as a valuable end in itself but also as a means to implementing other aspects of a broader plan.

Barak has pledged to withdraw Israeli troops from south Lebanon within one year but this can only be accomplished if Syria agrees to prevent armed attacks on Israel from this region.

Barak has also said that he is willing to make "tough compromises" implying that he is willing to withdraw from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Assad has a vested interest in peace with Israel since he is worried about his succession: He does not want to be remembered as the leader who lost the Golan Heights to Israel in the 1967 war and never got them back.

The Syrian economy is in shambles, due in part to economic restrictions imposed by the United States as a result of Syria's presence on a Washington's list of states that support terrorism.

A peace pact with Israel would also bring an economic windfall for Syria. Among Israel's neighbors, only Syria and Lebanon are at present excluded from the financial benefits that accompany signed peace agreements.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is scheduled to travel to the Middle East in mid-August and stop in Damascus and Jerusalem with "talking points" for negotiations between two countries, a senior U.S. official told AFP.

"Albright is planning to do a lot of shuttle diplomacy between the two countries," he added.

Peace negotiations with Syria were interrupted pending Israeli elections in May 1996 in which former Labor prime minister Shimon Peres was defeated by right-wing Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu refused to accept the previous government's position on withdrawal from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, preventing a resumption of official negotiations with Syria.