Israel-PLO Pact May Come During Christopher Visit : Diplomacy: Secretary of state embarks for Mideast today. He is also expected to discuss peace with Syria.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher leaves today on a Middle East tour that could coincide with a long-awaited agreement on Palestinian rule in Jericho and the Gaza Strip and the launching of a separate peace initiative by Israel and Syria.

If all goes well, the trip could mark closure of the first phase of the Mideast peace process that began in Madrid three years ago, and a shift of focus to the second front: Syria’s contentious dispute with Israel over return of the strategic Golan Heights.

“The story is that it’s time to change dance partners, from (PLO Chairman) Yasser Arafat to (Syrian President) Hafez al Assad,” said Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Clinton Administration officials are publicly playing down expectations because of past failures to overcome final hurdles in talks between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. But senior officials said privately that they think Christopher’s itinerary could include the formal signing of a pact on Palestinian autonomy.

“There are very strong prospects of a signing,” one official said Saturday. “For weeks we’ve said they’re 90% done. Both parties have now signaled to us that they’re closing on the final details.”

Indeed, there have been signs of movement in Cairo and also in Bucharest, Romania, where Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres held a series of meetings last week. Arafat returned to his headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia, on Friday, observing that an agreement is “in sight.” Cairo is the probable site for a signing, U.S. officials said.

The final obstacles involve issues of jurisdiction, air and sea rights and prisoner releases. Israel recently conceded on security and refugee issues, including the size, composition and powers of the new Palestinian police force and the weapons it will be allowed to use.

In advance of Christopher’s trip, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin talked last week about the possibility of ceding the Golan Heights and even dismantling Jewish settlements in exchange for peace with Syria. U.S. officials called the statement “very important” and “well timed.”

Syria responded Saturday by welcoming Rabin’s remarks. “A step was made by Rabin when he recognized the necessity of dismantling settlements and (recognized) that peace, not settlements, would provide security,” wrote Tishrin, the official newspaper of Assad’s government.

But the newspaper added pointedly, “Rabin knows well that peace with Syria is impossible without the return of the whole Golan.”

Rabin was army chief in 1967 when Israel captured the stark plateau overlooking northern and eastern Israel, which had provided Syria a military advantage. More than 100,000 Israelis now live in the Golan’s Jewish settlements.

After stops in London, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and in Cairo, Christopher is expected to arrive in Israel to talk over details of Israeli ideas for peace with Syria, which he would then carry to Damascus.

Unlike in the PLO-Israeli talks--in which the United States mainly facilitated direct discussion--Christopher is expected to play a bigger role, possibly involving some shuttle diplomacy between Israeli and Syrian officials, sources on both sides said.

Again, U.S. officials tried to dampen expectations. “We’ve never been just mailmen,” one senior U.S. official said. “But how people perceive our role might change.”

After the Christopher trip, direct negotiations are scheduled to resume in Washington.

Significant Syrian-Israeli talks have been on hold for nine months, even though they began before the initial Israeli-PLO accord last fall.

“Israel has evidently concluded that the PLO track cannot be the engine to drive the peace process over the long haul,” Satloff said. “Only the Syria track can do that.”

For the first time, Israel has devised a full-fledged package for a peace agreement with Syria. The plan includes commitments on sovereignty and peace; timetables for withdrawal and normalization, and procedures for mutual security arrangements.

“This could be a momentous occasion for the peace process,” Satloff said.