Israel continues to be baffled by Assad

JERUSALEM [MENL] -- After months of wooing, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak continues to be baffled by Syria.

Israeli ministers said they don't understand whether Syria wants a peace treaty amid the escalation of violence in southern Lebanon and the refusal of Damascus to discuss anything else but full withdrawal from the Golan Heights. Some of them said they might have been incorrect in their original assessment that Syrian President Hafez Assad was set on signing a peace treaty when he agreed to resume negotiations at U.S.-sponsored talks in Sheperdstown, W. Va.

"No one knows," Foreign Minister David Levy said. "We've been engaged in puzzles and in assessments for many years. However, there was a move that maybe indicated he opted for peace. We were enticed to believe in that. We are disappointed. Syrian policy continues to be hesitant and recently there are declarations and extreme [positions] -- what you would call 'hot, cold.'"

Levy said Israel and Syria continue to disagree on what a peace treaty should constitute. "No one is sure of it," he said. "We met, started practical talks. But it is not clear that Israel and Syria see eye to eye on what peace means. We didn't go then [to Shepherdstown] to say yes or no whether we would withdraw from the Golan or not. The nature of the peace, according to the Israeli perception involves redeployment, water, normalization of relations and other issues. Unfortunately Syria thought it came to get the Golan."

Justice Minister Yossi Beilin said he did not understand Syria's attitude. He pointed to Assad's decision that banned his foreign minister, Farouk A-Shaara, from shaking hands with Prime Minister Ehud Barak at two rounds of talks in Shepherdstown.

"We don't understand the strategy," Justice Minister Yossi Beilin said. "What is behind that no hand shake?"

In contrast, U.S. officials continue to be optimistic regarding the resumption of the Syrian-Israeli talks.

"Were down to the last stroke," President Bill Clinton said. "We're down to the last decisions. I think we're so close to the substance. I'm optimistic. I think that there will have to be some forward progress here in the next few weeks and I'll do whatever I can to facilitate it in whatever way I can."

The administration plans to send Middle East peace envoy Dennis Ross to the region this weekend. A-Sharaa has appealed to U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to return to the region to mediate between the sides.

In Beirut, students on Wednesday again called for the expulsion of U.S. ambassador David Satterfield as part of a protest against what they termed was Washington's support for Israel's air strikes on Lebanese infrastructure last week. It was the second straight day of anti-American protests.

The protesters chanted "Ambassador, go away, I want my country to be free" and "David, David, shame on you" as they left the American University of Beirut campus.

On Friday the U.S. State Department blamed Hizbullah for the recent upsurge of tension in southern Lebanon. Since January, seven Israeli soldiers were killed in Lebanon.