Netanyahu Takes New Tack on Syria

In an implicit acknowledgment that his “Lebanon First” proposal has failed to tempt Syrian President Hafez Assad back to the peace table, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said he is taking a new approach with the Syrians and underlined that he is willing to talk about “all outstanding matters”--including the Golan Heights.

Netanyahu said he was told by Jordan’s King Hussein--during the Israeli leader’s second visit as prime minister to an Arab capital--that Assad is still willing to seek peace with Israel. But beyond that slim declaration of goodwill, there was no evidence that Israel and Syria had moved any closer.

Hussein spent five hours in discussions with Assad on Saturday in Damascus, the Syrian capital, hoping to serve as a mediator between Israel and Syria. But he returned to Jordan empty-handed, saying there was no message from Assad to Netanyahu nor any discernible shift in Assad’s public position regarding peace talks.

Netanyahu made no mention of this rebuff at a news conference he and the Jordanian ruler held in a sweltering tent on the grounds of Hussein’s palace in Amman, the capital. Instead, he dwelt on his desire to achieve a resumption of talks with Syria. Later, Netanyahu disclosed to accompanying Israeli reporters that Israel had made a new, unspecified proposal to the U.S. government Friday; he said it would be passed on to the Syrians. “We are awaiting an answer,” he said.

At their news conference, Netanyahu went out of his way to underscore his willingness to talk--and not just about Lebanon. “We are prepared to engage in peace negotiations with Syria on all outstanding matters,” he said. “We are not limiting this to any particular one subject. We have in fact a variety of issues to discuss with Syria.”

He said that on some issues “we disagree and on some I think the areas of agreement are closer at hand.” But “our purpose is to achieve a formal peace with Syria.”

Still, Netanyahu made it clear that Lebanon is uppermost in his government’s mind now. Israel is eager to obtain guarantees of border security so it can safely withdraw 1,000 troops from its self-declared “security zone” in southern Lebanon. Israel has faced mounting casualties this year inflicted by the Hezbollah guerrilla movement, including two more soldiers wounded Monday, one seriously.

Israel does not want territory in Lebanon, Netanyahu said, adding: “All we seek to achieve along our Lebanese front is tranquillity and security. If this is agreed upon by others, I think it could be a very good starting point to build a relationship of trust.”

There was no immediate response from Syria to these comments. Syrian leaders in recent weeks have been focusing on building a united Arab front to counter what they view as Netanyahu’s hard-line positions.

Assad has rejected the idea of “Lebanon First,” the proposal to achieve some agreement on peace there, instead saying the Syrian-Israeli talks should strive for a comprehensive settlement that includes Syria’s main goal of the return of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War.

Diplomats say that before Assad will resume talks, he wants Netanyahu to acknowledge that he is willing to trade land for peace and to pick up negotiations where they broke off in February under the previous Israeli government of Prime Minister Shimon Peres. The sides then had appeared close to agreeing on details of security guarantees for Israel if it gave back the Golan. But Israel recalled its negotiators after a series of suicide bombings, accusing Syria of failing to condemn the killings.

On several levels, Netanyahu’s trip to build bridges in the Arab world could not have come at a more inauspicious time. Apart from Syria’s coolness, the partially occupied West Bank has been in turmoil in recent days, its Palestinian residents riled by the harsh police regime imposed by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, in part to satisfy Israeli demands.

Also, Netanyahu’s government had just announced that Jewish settlements in the territories will be allowed to expand, and it ordered the closing of alleged Palestinian government offices in East Jerusalem, conditions many Palestinians consider humiliating.

Meantime, King Hussein’s government faces its own troubles, sparked by water shortages and its recent decision to cut back government subsidies for basic foods, which will more than double the price of bread and animal feed. These problems have exacerbated Jordanians’ dissatisfaction that peace with Israel has failed to bring an economic dividend.

Analysts had expected Netanyahu to announce concessions to the Arabs to bolster Arafat and Hussein. But the only step he mentioned was an additional 5,000 work permits for Palestinians to enter Israel.