Author: Clinton relayed Rabin's pledge of full withdrawal

LONDON -- Syria on Monday continued its information offensive, asserting that U.S. President Bill Clinton relayed a commitment by the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights.

In the second of a series of articles in the London-based Al Hayat daily, British author Patrick Seale quoted from a letter sent by Clinton to Assad on June 6, 1995 and relayed by U.S. envoy Dennis Ross. In the letter, Clinton reminded Assad of Rabin's commitment for an Israeli withdrawal to the June 4, 1967 lines.

That line included an Israeli pullback to the shores of the Sea of Galilee, a withdrawal opposed by the government of Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

"As I told you in Damascus, and as I told your foreign minister, I have in my pocket a commitment from Prime Minister Rabin for a full withdrawal to the June 4, 1967 line," Seale quoted the Clinton letter as saying.

But in the letter, Clinton said the United States would not announce the commitment and urged Damascus to do the same. The letter was relayed to Assad on the eve of negotiations on security arrangements between Israel and Syria in talks headed by their two chiefs of staff.

Seale said Rabin first made the commitment for a full withdrawal in August 1993 in a meeting with then-U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Assad then met Christopher on Aug. 4 and asked the U.S. envoy for details on Rabin's commitment.

According to a transcript of the meeting quoted by Seale, Assad asked Christopher whether Rabin intends to withdraw to the June 4, 1967 line. Christopher's response: "I have a commitment for full withdrawal but without a determined line."

Assad then posed another question: "Will Israel occupy any land along the Syrian front from June 1967?"

Christopher's reply: "Not that I know of."

Israel has denied that Rabin issued any commitment for a full withdrawal from the Golan and the State Department last month concurred. Israel Television on Sunday night said Christopher has told Israeli leaders that he never heard such a commitment given by Rabin.

Instead, the Israelis said, Rabin was responding to a hypothetical question from Christopher regarding Israel's willingness to withdraw from the Golan Heights if all of Rabin's demands were met. But some Israeli sources said Christopher might have relayed Rabin's response as a commitment for full withdrawal from the Golan.