Parliament Backs Barak in Bid for Peace With Syria

Urging Israelis to seize the “historic moment,” Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Monday overcame his first challenge on the path to peace with Syria and gained parliamentary approval for renewed negotiations in Washington this week.

Addressing lawmakers in a bid to rally support for the talks after nearly four years of impasse, Barak asked all Israelis to back him in his quest to end half a century of conflict between the Jewish state and its hard-line Arab neighbor. But he said he could not promise that Israelis, particularly those living on the occupied Golan Heights, will not pay a “painful price” if a peace treaty is reached.

The words were Barak’s clearest signal yet that an agreement will inevitably involve territorial concessions to Syria, whose leader, Hafez Assad, has never wavered from his insistence that Israel must return all of the strategic plateau, captured from Syria in 1967, as a condition for peace.

Barak argued that Israelis have a “supreme responsibility” to try to achieve a comprehensive peace with the Arabs or face the prospect of future generations’ “digging new rows of graves in a conflict that we could have ended.”

One-Third of Coalition Abstains From Vote

Looking wan and sounding hoarse from a bout with the flu, Barak spoke strongly but was heckled by opposition lawmakers who shouted accusations that he has promised Syria, even before the negotiations begin, that Israel will withdraw from all of the Golan. Barak insists that he has made no promises to Syria in advance of the talks.

The interruptions were relatively tame, however, by the standards of the often chaotic parliament, which approved the nonbinding motion to renew the negotiations by a vote of 47 to 31, though with 24 abstentions.

Barak appeared unfazed by the decision of nearly a third of his own coalition members to abstain from the vote, dismissing it as a “temporary phenomenon.” But the vote reflected the deep divisions among Israelis over the issue of whether to return all of the Golan, a picturesque plateau where 17,000 settlers now live, as the price for peace. Polls show Israelis to be almost evenly split on the issue.

Some analysts noted, though, that Barak might not be entirely unhappy to have a certain amount of opposition to the idea of a Golan Heights withdrawal, saying that he will no doubt try to use it to squeeze concessions from the Syrians on other issues, including security arrangements and water rights.

The Israeli leader will fly to Washington today to meet with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shareh on Wednesday in discussions that will be at the highest level ever between officials of the two nations. The initial sessions are expected to last two days and will be hosted by President Clinton at the White House.

Clinton, who announced the resumption of the talks last week, said Monday that the negotiations, despite the difficult issues involved, could move relatively quickly. After the preliminary round, he told a radio interviewer, the Syrian and Israeli negotiating teams will return home for consultations, then come back to Washington to “just look to burn through it, just keep going until we get the thing done.”

The two sides “know what the issues are, and they know what the options are for resolving the issues,” Clinton told CBS Radio.

Premier Makes Appeal to Golan Settlers

During his parliamentary address, Barak appealed to the Golan settlers directly several times. He reminded them that he fought on the heights during the Six-Day War, when the Israeli army conquered the territory, and vowed that he will do nothing to jeopardize Israel’s security as he tries to make peace with Syria. And he promised to try to involve the settlers in discussions concerning the Golan’s future.

“But I cannot tell you that it’s possible to achieve peace without paying a painful territorial price,” he said.

Barak still faces numerous obstacles both in negotiating a deal with the Syrians and in selling the agreement back home. He has promised to hold a referendum allowing Israeli voters to give final approval to any accord. And on Monday, he repeated his assertion that he would win such a vote by a landslide.

Ariel Sharon, the former general who now leads the main opposition Likud Party, accused Barak of capitulating to Syrian and American pressure and acting in the interests of every participant in the talks except Israel.

“The struggle for the Golan is not lost,” Sharon said. “We are right, and we will win.”

As the debate continued inside the parliament, several thousand Golan residents and their supporters demonstrated outside the building on a cool, rainy afternoon. They shouted slogans and waved placards urging Israel to hold on to the territory.

“Peace WITH the Golan,” one sign read.

One demonstrator, who gave his name only as Samuel, said he lives in the West Bank settlement of Tekoa but came to Jerusalem on Monday to protest the resumption of talks with Syria.

“It’s as if two Israeli views are struggling with each other here,” said Samuel, 42. “One view sees a process leading toward peace, but the other sees that we are building a state, then destroying parts of it again and again. The situation now is that whenever we reach a conflict, we give land away as the easy solution to solving it. We have to stop.”

Peace activists held a small counterdemonstration a few blocks away, wishing Barak success in the Washington talks.