Israeli Premier Survives Vote of No Confidence Over Syria Talks

Shimon Peres’ ruling coalition survived a no-confidence vote Monday that was brought by right-wing opponents angered by the new prime minister’s peace efforts with Syria.

The vote, which the government won 55 to 48, was Peres’ first challenge in the Knesset, or parliament, since he was sworn in with near unanimous support after the Nov. 4 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

The legislative honeymoon was shattered by Peres’ decision to press for a breakthrough in 4-year-old peace talks with Syria.

Israeli-Syrian negotiations are scheduled to resume in Washington on Wednesday after a six-month hiatus amid reports that Peres is willing to cede the Golan Heights.

Benjamin Netanyahu, head of the Likud opposition party, told legislators that Peres was playing with people’s lives by pursuing his vision of Mideast harmony.

He said the Golan Heights, which Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East War, served as a deterrent to Syria and returning it would only lead to more fighting. “We don’t need to endanger the next generation . . . for an illusion,” Netanyahu said.

Opinion polls in Israel show that more than half of all Israelis oppose giving up the Golan Heights. Many view the heights as a strategic necessity and doubt that Syrian President Hafez Assad is sincere about wanting peace.

But Foreign Minister Ehud Barak said Israel was strong enough militarily and economically to take risks for peace.

Israel was entering the process with the Syrians “from a position of strength and of inner might,” Barak said before the vote.

“To the best of my knowledge, the state of Israel has a vital strategic interest to reach peace with Syria and Lebanon, if it is possible to reach it with strict supervision over security arrangements and good early-warning systems,” he said.

The U.S.-brokered talks at a rural Maryland conference center will be the first since June, when Damascus refused to resume talks on security arrangements unless Israel dropped a demand for such early-warning stations in any hand-over to Syria.

But Syria has shown rare optimism since the more dovish Peres took over last month from Rabin, who was assassinated by a Jew opposed to the government policy of ceding occupied land for peace with the Arabs.