JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ehud Barak has proposed to Syria that
nearly 18,000 Israeli residents be allowed to remain on the Golan Heights in
any peace treaty with Damascus.
But sources close to Barak said this is the prime minister's opening
position and he does not expect Damascus to agree to such a proposal.
Justice Minister Yossi Beilin said the evacuation of Israelis from the
Egyyptian Sinai in 1982 set a precedent for a Syrian demand for the removal
of settlers from the Golan Heights.
"These are opening positions of both sides," Tourism Minister Amnon
Shahak said on Thursday. "In some cases, there are not even opening
positions but declaration of statements."
The Haaretz daily said Barak's position was incorporated in a U.S. draft
document that serves as the basis of a peace treaty. Syria has already
rejected the proposal.
The prime minister's office on Thursday confirmed the veracity of the
document published by Haaretz. The office said Israel has proposed numerous
revisions in the document.
The newspaper said Barak believes that most Golan residents will reject
any possibility of living under Syrian rule and will relocate in Israel. The
prime minister, however, wants those remaining to be allowed to live in
Syria the way Arabs are allowed to live in Israel.
Opposition Leader Ariel Sharon called Barak's proposal a manipulative
exercise.
"The prime minister knows that it will be impossible to live under Syrian
rule but
with this [proposal] he hopes to soften the hard nucleus fighting now
against
withdrawal from the Golan," Sharon said. "I know that the prime minister
delves heavily
into Machiavellian literature and this is a perfect example."
The U.S. document said that Israel and Syria agree that no clear
boundary exists between the two countries, Haaretz said. The document calls
for the establishment of a joint commission to delineate a new boundary.
Syria has demanded that Israel withdraw to the June 4, 1967 line that
existed on the eve of the Six-Day Arab-Israeli war. An Israeli minister said
Barak has proposed a withdrawal to the 1923 British-French line.
The U.S. draft contains a list of agreements and disagreements between
Israel and Syria and will be the focus of the next round of negotiations,
scheduled for Jan. 19 near Washington. No site has yet been announced.
Israel and Syria appear to have agreed not to join with any country to
launch war against either Damascus or Jerusalem. The two countries,
according to the U.S. draft, also appear to ban support for insurgency or
terrorism.
Israeli officials said this clause constitutes a Syrian commitment to
stop Hizbullah or any other guerrilla organization in Lebanon from attacking
Israel.
In another development, Barak's coalition defeated a bill by a Likud
parliamentarian, Avraham Hirschson that would have linked a peace treaty
with Syria to the extradition of former Nazi SS officer Alois Brunner, a
chief aide to Adolph Eichman, regarded as the architect of the Holocaust.
"There are things that are beyond politics," Hirschson said. "Israel has
undermined its moral basis to go to nations of the world and demand the
extradition of Nazi criminals."
