‘New Atmosphere’ Cited in Wake of Quake Aid : Ties With Kremlin Warming Up, Israeli Says

When three Israeli air force planes touched down in Soviet Armenia recently carrying four tons of medical supplies for earthquake victims, a team of Israeli diplomats in Moscow quietly celebrated what they saw as a symbolic victory.

The Soviets allowed the military jets to land despite a 21-year-old rift in relations between the two countries, and official Soviet media even praised Israel for its assistance to quake victims.

“Let’s call it part of a new atmosphere. Things are definitely changing,” said Yoav Bar-On of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, a member of the visiting delegation that has been here for the last five months.

Bar-On, who spoke in an interview in his room at the Ukrainian Hotel, switched on the television set as a precaution to drown out his voice. He stressed that the Israeli delegates are careful about what they say and do.

Nevertheless, the Israelis cite several recent developments that they say mark the plodding progress of improved Israeli-Soviet ties.

Most notably, the hijacking of a Soviet Aeroflot jetliner to Ben-Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv earlier this month spurred rare public cooperation between Israelis and Soviets and led to a visit by Soviet officials who picked up the plane and the hijackers.

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze then met for 40 minutes with Israeli consular officials in Moscow--the first such high-level meeting here since the 1967 break in relations--to thank Israel for its help.

“The circumstances of the hijacking proved to be somewhat lucky for us. It improved our standing here,” said the Romanian-born Bar-On, recalling that Soviet officials declined to even greet the Israeli delegates when they arrived in Moscow in July.

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev also personally extended his thanks to the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations during Gorbachev’s visit to New York.

When the Dec. 7 earthquake struck Soviet Armenia, killing an estimated 55,000 people, Israel was quick to offer its help.

Brig. Gen. Rafael Vardi, with experience in rescue work after the 1985 Mexico earthquake, was sent to Leninakan, Armenia’s second-largest city, to coordinate Israeli efforts to locate survivors. Also included in the Israeli shipment were search dogs, medical supplies and prefabricated housing.

The official Soviet newspaper Izvestia praised the highly trained and well-equipped Israeli team, which it said managed to “save 14 lives . . . in only one day.” Israeli consular officials said they view the Izvestia article as a remarkable turnaround for the official Soviet media, which more typically vilifies Israel as a racist aggressor.

The vacant Israeli Embassy here, located in central Moscow two blocks from the Moscow River, is a less positive symbol of Soviet-Israeli relations.

A walk through the building with Bar-On revealed offices and furnishings untouched since Moscow ordered the Israeli diplomats to leave.

But change is in the air even here. Recently Soviet workers, without explanation, gave the deserted building a fresh coat of peach-colored paint. Israel, which pays $100,000 in annual rent for the building, has asked that its consular delegation be allowed to work there instead of in its current tiny room at the Dutch Embassy.

There has been no answer so far, but the diplomats hope the paint job signals a positive response.

After the 1967 Six-Day War, the Soviet Union severed ties with Israel to protest Israeli capture of land from Egypt, Jordan and Syria. Moscow has said relations will be resumed only as part of a general settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The first indication of a thaw, however, came when the Kremlin agreed to allow Soviet and Israeli diplomats to meet in Helsinki in 1986. The session, which lasted just 90 minutes, was seen as a breakthrough.

A Soviet consular delegation has been stationed in Tel Aviv since the summer of 1987, and the Israeli delegates arrived in Moscow this summer.

Observers have attributed the warming of relations in part to a Soviet desire for greater involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Both American and Israeli officials have said that Moscow, a key arms supplier for Syria, could take part in an international peace conference on the region only after renewing ties with Israel.

Another Israeli condition has been improved emigration rights for Soviet Jews. So far this year, Moscow has permitted 16,572 Jews to emigrate, the highest figure since 1980, when 21,470 Jews were granted exit visas.

In addition, last month the Soviet Union stopped jamming the Voice of Israel radio station, Bar-On said. Moscow listeners can now tune in to Russian-language broadcasts from the station.

Soviet Bloc countries that followed Moscow’s lead in breaking ties with Israel also have begun improving links with the Jewish state, permitting cultural exchanges and in some cases setting up low-level diplomatic offices in Tel Aviv, apparently with the Kremlin’s blessing.

But Bar-On, a 23-year Foreign Ministry veteran, said he and the other delegates remain largely isolated in Moscow and have had few chances for casual contacts with Soviets, many of whom are suspicious. “Views about Israel change very slowly here,” he said.

Nevertheless, Bar-On keeps his own form of cultural exchange on hand--a bottle of Israeli-made Sabra liqueur to offer to Soviet visitors in return for a sip of vodka. It hasn’t been opened yet, but he is optimistic.

“For the first time in 21 years, there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Bar-On said. “I cannot tell you that we will be able to renew relations with the Soviet Union in a matter of weeks, months or even years. But now that we have been allowed to come back to Moscow, we believe we are here to stay.”