Israel Embarks on Neighborly Mission of Hope to Syria : Mideast: Government reaches out to bereaved Assad. It is hoped kindness will also spur peace.

The head of Israel’s Democratic Arab Party said Friday that he will lead an official delegation of Israeli Arabs to Damascus, marking the first visit to Syria of a member of Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset.

The 31-member delegation of municipal leaders, writers, religious figures and others will pay condolences to Syrian President Hafez Assad on the death of his son, but Israeli officials hope the visit may also indicate an important thaw in the peace process.

“This is a positive signal, and I praise this signal, but it has its limitations,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. “This is not yet an outbreak of opportunities.”

Knesset member Abdul Wahab Darawshe, who will head the delegation on its trip during the next few days, said the group was going on a strictly humanitarian mission, but he did not rule out possible advances in the peace process between Israel and Syria.

“It may project a better atmosphere. I believe, generally speaking, that the visit will have a positive impact on peace,” said Darawshe, one of seven Israeli Arabs in the 120-seat Knesset and a leading spokesman for Israel’s 800,000 Arabs.

Another Arab Knesset member, Talib Sanaa, will also be part of the delegation.

The announcement comes as peace talks between Israel and Syria reopened this week in Washington, strained by the firing on Wednesday of a Russian-made Katyusha rocket into northern Israel from southern Lebanon, the first violation of a cease-fire that ended a major Israeli military operation last June designed to wipe out guerrilla operations on the Israel-Lebanon border.

Because Syrian forces control the majority of Lebanese territory, Israel quickly raised an alarm, and U.S. Ambassador Mark Hambley met with Lebanese President Elias Hrawi to urge a halt to the attacks.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher, conferring in Washington with Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin, telephoned Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shareh. The situation reportedly was calmed when U.S. officials transmitted to Israel a message that Damascus stands behind the cease-fire agreement and had been unaware of the Katyusha firing into the western Galilee.

In Jerusalem, Israeli officials sought to lower the temperature, saying they believe the rocket was fired by a Palestinian fringe group, the Black 13th of September Brigades. That organization was founded in southern Lebanon by Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat’s disgruntled former military commander after the signing of the Sept. 13 peace agreement between Israel and the PLO.

“I understand this Katyusha came from the side of a marginal and unimportant organization,” Peres said. “I would not build the entire policy on the (basis) of the shooting of one Katyusha.”

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said Israel’s understanding with Syria concerned operations of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon, not other organizations. “The understandings in the area with the Syrians regarding Hezbollah remain in force,” he said. “Our understandings were about the operations of Hezbollah, and they are being kept.”

Up to seven more Katyusha rockets were fired into Israel’s self-declared security zone in southern Lebanon on Thursday and Friday, and Israeli defense forces hit back with artillery fire. There were no casualties.

The announcement that an Israeli Arab delegation would be permitted to visit Syria followed complaints by Rabin that an earlier Syrian refusal to admit the group represented Syria’s failure to take the peace process seriously.

“Regretfully, even if I believe that Syria wants peace, according to its behavior, Syria is not doing what is necessary in order to truthfully demonstrate to the Israeli people that it has genuinely turned toward peace,” Rabin said after Syria initially rejected the delegation’s visit.

The turnabout came after intervention from Egyptian Foreign Minister Amir Moussa and was conveyed this week to the Israeli Arab delegation by Egypt’s ambassador to Israel, Mohammed Bassiouny.

“As I know, it is the first time that the Syrian government is allowing an Israeli Arab citizen to enter Syria,” Darawshe said. He said that while the delegation expects to meet with Assad, they do not have any specific political agenda to discuss, nor will they be carrying any messages from Rabin.

“We want to express our condolences to the president, his family and the Syrian people over the death of his son,” he said. “There is no connection with the peace efforts, but if anything useful should arise from the visit, I would welcome it.”

Assad’s son Basil was killed in a traffic accident last month.