Israelis Say Golan Border Is Negotiable : Mideast talks: The Syrians, however, insist on a commitment to return all of the territory.

Israeli negotiators said Wednesday that they are prepared to bargain with Syria over new borders--apparently signaling a willingness to withdraw from part of the occupied Golan Heights--but that they will not consider returning to the frontiers that preceded the 1967 Arab-Israel War.

The comments expressed by Yosef Ben-Aharon, chief of Israel’s delegation to the talks with Syria, had seemed to open the way for a territorial compromise. Syrian negotiators, however, insisted that they would accept nothing less than the return of all the Golan territory that Israel occupied during the Six-Day War.

“We will not agree to give them a commitment on withdrawal unless and until they . . . accept the idea that the borders which existed prior to ’67 . . . are no longer valid and we have to negotiate the establishment of secure and agreed borders between the two states,” Ben-Aharon said.

Syria’s spokesman said: “Today we said to the Israeli delegation: ‘Commit yourself to the withdrawal from our territory and we are ready to discuss everything you have in mind.’ ”

The Israel-Syria impasse was echoed throughout the complex talks in which Israel is negotiating separately with each of its neighbors--Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinians.

Although the negotiators are talking about the conflict in greater detail than they ever have before, they have been unable to overcome generations of animosity and begin to compromise over their differences.

For instance, Israel introduced on Tuesday a detailed plan for limited Palestinian self-government in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestinians immediately denounced it as a retreat from the autonomy formula that Israel agreed to in the 1978 Camp David agreement.

On Wednesday, Israeli spokesman Yosef Gal said the Palestinians have no right to complain about changes from Camp David because they had rejected the plan at the time.

Apparently stung by Palestinian complaints that the plan would do nothing more than perpetuate the Israeli occupation, Gal said that Israel is ready to give Palestinians control over their own administration of justice, labor relations, agriculture, education, culture, budget and taxation, health and social welfare. He said that Palestinian officials are trying to minimize the importance of the Israeli plan because they want an independent state, something that Israel adamantly refuses to accept.

Meanwhile, Jewish sources said the Bush Administration and Congress are closing in on a compromise over Israel’s request for $10 billion in loan guarantees to resettle Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Under the plan, Congress would approve the loan guarantees but would give the Administration the authority to withhold the money until Israel agrees to stop building settlements in the occupied territories.

In another Mideast matter, the Administration has notified Congress that it plans this year to propose the sale to Saudi Arabia of 72 F-15 fighter aircraft and of about $7 billion worth of Patriot missiles to other Persian Gulf countries.

The plan to revive the F-15 sales is expected to be controversial. An Administration official acknowledged that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has been “beating the bushes” to organize congressional opposition to the sale, which would bring $5 billion to McDonnell Douglas Corp., manufacturer of the warplane.

Times staff writer Melissa Healy contributed to this report.