Soviets Hint at Restoring Israeli Ties : Jewish State’s Radio Says Golan Heights Flexibility Is Price

The Soviet Union has suggested it may be ready to restore diplomatic relations with Israel in return for Israeli flexibility in dealing with the future of the Golan Heights, Israel radio reported Friday.

Moscow also has hinted that it is ready to increase the flow of Jewish emigrants if Israel can guarantee that they will come here rather than divert to the United States and other countries, as well over half of them have done in the past, the radio report said.

The Soviet overture, which included a request for a halt in anti-Soviet propaganda, came during a meeting earlier this week in Paris between the two countries’ ambassadors to France--Ovadia Sofer of Israel and Yuli M. Vorontsov of the Soviet Union.

A senior Israeli government official confirmed that the meeting had taken place, but said, “We can’t give any details.” Asked if the session provided any evidence of a significant policy shift under new Soviet Communist Party chief Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the official commented, “I wouldn’t say that yet, no.”

‘Very Important’ Meeting

Israeli television quoted unnamed Israeli sources in Paris as saying that the meeting was “very long, very important--perhaps the most important contact since 1967,” when Moscow broke relations after the Six-Day War. During that conflict, Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria, the Soviet Union’s most important ally in the Middle East. And in December, 1981, the Israelis formally annexed the area.

However, the suggestion here was that if there is any major diplomatic move afoot, it is expected to take some time to achieve any results.

In the past, Israeli officials have dismissed the possibility of any deal with Syria over the Golan, a mountainous plateau on its northeastern frontier. It is unclear what kind of flexibility the Soviets were demanding from Israel on the Golan Heights, although the Soviet envoy said Israel would not have to withdraw completely if it could make an agreement with Syria for partial return, according to state radio.

Previous Soviet Position

Previously, Moscow had demanded that Israel return all territory captured in the 1967 war--the West Bank of the Jordan River, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights--as a precondition for any renewal of diplomatic ties. Israel’s position has been that it was Moscow that broke relations, and therefore it is solely up to the Soviets to renew them.

Besides the ambassadorial meeting in Paris, there have been other signs recently of a relaxation of the tensions between Jerusalem and Moscow.

Earlier this week, Israel Singer, secretary general of the World Jewish Congress, quoted Prime Minister Shimon Peres as saying that Israel is “sincerely interested in reopening diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.” Peres said Gorbachev’s ascension “could be a new opportunity that shouldn’t be overlooked,” according to Singer, who met with Peres privately.

Another senior Israeli official noted that “very high on our agenda is resumption of emigration” of Soviet Jews. Postwar Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union, which began in the late 1960s, peaked in 1979 when more than 51,000 left. The flow has since dwindled to a trickle, although 150 Jews have left the Soviet Union so far in July, compared with 36 in June, 51 in May and 167 in April.

Emigration Tap Closed

Moscow contends that most of the Jews who want to leave the Soviet Union have already done so, but others--including recent emigres--say the Soviets have simply closed the emigration tap for political reasons.

In Moscow, Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir B. Lomeiko rejected the idea that there is any link between restoring diplomatic relations with Israel and increased emigration of Soviet Jews.

Lomeiko said restoration of diplomatic ties would depend on Israeli behavior in the Middle East. The Soviet Union, which sides with Arab states and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the Middle East dispute, has charged that Israel is following an aggressive policy.

“This question (of diplomatic relations) has nothing to do with the question of emigration of persons of Jewish nationality to Israel,” he said at a news conference. “As far as the re-establishment of relations with Israel, this . . . depends not on the Soviet Union. Israel’s aggressive policies made it impossible to maintain normal relations.”

Later, Lomeiko added, “Israel should make its policy more liberal, more peaceful and more democratic.”

Early Israeli Champion

The Soviet Union was an early champion of a Jewish homeland and supported Israel in its first years of independence after 1948. And some Soviet officials have told Western contacts privately that they think it was a mistake for Moscow to have broken diplomatic relations after the Six-Day War.

The two countries have scientific and cultural relations but conduct essential diplomatic business through the Netherlands and Finland.

The Soviets clearly would like to play a role in any Middle East peace negotiations, but Israel and the United States both adamantly oppose this, barring a restoration of Soviet-Israeli relations. A Soviet move to restore ties with Israel could be aimed at regaining a foothold in Middle East diplomacy.

“Unless there will be a change in the Russian policy, which is completely one-sided today, I can hardly see what sort of a role Russia can play in the Middle East,” Peres told Israel’s Foreign Press Assn. early this year.

Other Contacts

There have been a series of other contacts between Soviet and Israeli officials in the last year, including talks between former Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko and his Israeli counterpart, Yitzhak Shamir, at the United Nations.

More recently, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Meir Rosenne, had a well-publicized meeting with his Soviet counterpart, Anatoly F. Dobrynin.

“I wouldn’t rule out that what the Soviets are doing now is creating the atmospherics for a meeting between Shamir and (Eduard A.) Shevardnadze (Gromyko’s replacement as foreign minister) at the United Nations,” said the former director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Shlomo Avinieri.

According to Israel radio, government ministers will discuss the latest Soviet developments at their regular Cabinet meeting Sunday.

Abba Eban, chairman of the Knesset (Parliament) Foreign Relations and Defense Committee, called Friday for Shamir to report to the panel Monday on the Paris contacts.

At a briefing in Washington, a State Department spokesman said of the possible resumption of Soviet-Israeli relations, “We would welcome any improvement in relations between Israel and other countries.”

Times Staff Writer William J. Eaton in Moscow also contributed to this story.