DATE=1/7/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUNDER
TITLE=U-S MILITARY/SYRIA/ISRAEL
NUMBER=5-45197
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=PENTAGON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: While Israel and Syria continue to negotiate a
difficult peace deal, analysts with long experience in
the Middle East and military affairs say it is likely
to take large amounts of U-S money, military power and
intelligence information to get the two sides to sign
an agreement. V-O-A's Jim Randle reports from the
Pentagon.
TEXT: At the heart of any Israel-Syria peace deal
will be the issue of security -- namely which country
will control the strategic Golan Heights, captured by
Israel in the 1967 war.
Much of Israel was once vulnerable to Syrian artillery
positions on this high ground. But in the last 30
years, Israel has used the strategic Golan to keep
track of Syrian troop movements and eavesdrop on
Syrian telephone and radio communications.
Israeli leaders have indicated they are now prepared
to return the Golan in exchange for certain security
guarantees. But the nature of those guarantees is
what will make or break a peace deal between Syria and
Israel.
Technology and U-S assistance maybe the keys.
Intelligence expert John Pike, of the Federation of
American Scientists, says improvements in Israeli and
U-S spy technology may convince top Israeli officials
that they can safely keep watch over their neighbor's
military without the Golan.
/// PIKE ACT ///
The Israelis really value the Golan Heights for
intelligence collection. The Israelis now have
better (spy) airplanes than they did when they
got the Golan Heights. The United States has
better (spy) satellites. And if we are prepared
to share our intelligence with the Israelis,
they might be prepared to give up the Golan
Heights.
/// END ACT ///
Other security experts say American troops and
financial aid will also have to be part of the deal
before Israel will relinquish the Golan Heights.
Former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft says
(in an article he wrote for the New York Times) that
the Israelis will want a strong and substantial U-S
presence - including combat troops - to help monitor
and patrol the newly-drawn borders between Israel and
Syria.
But Pentagon officials are not eager to make a major
new, open-ended commitment of troops and equipment
when they are already straining to handle deployments
in Kosovo, Korea, Bosnia, the Persian Gulf and
elsewhere.
Questions have also been raised about the willingness
of a Republican-dominated U-S Congress to vote
billions of dollars in aid to bolster a foreign policy
success for the Democratic Clinton Administration
during a presidential election year. During the last
legislative session, Congress tied up funds for
implementation of the Wye River peace accords between
Israel and the Palestinians. Lawmakers only relented
at the very end of the budget process.
But Charles Hill, diplomat in residence at Yale
University, with long experience in the Middle East,
dismisses such worries.
/// HILL ACT ///
I think the package will get through, no matter
what. This is so serious, this is so important.
It is the culmination of decades of work by the
United States. Even with all of the reluctance
in the Pentagon, questions of (the U-S) Congress
being willing to fund it, it just is not going
to be stopped if there is anything like a
reasonable package that comes out of this
negotiation.
/// END ACT ///
Pentagon spokesman Craig Quigley says U-S officials
have had consultations and discussions with Israeli
leaders about the Jewish state's security needs and
what the United States can do to help. He says the
Israelis arrived with a `detailed' shopping list, and
Washington is likely to give at least some help.
/// QUIGLEY ACT ///
Substantive commitments, of perhaps, items, or
money, or people, over a period of time. I
think it is in our nation's interest, it is in
the region's interest, it is in the world's
interest, to have that part of the world, the
Middle East, be a peaceful place.
/// END ACT ///
Admiral Quigley would give no specifics and would not
confirm reports that the Israelis have asked for top
U-S weapons like the cruise missile, airborne early
warning aircraft, and other expensive high-tech tools
of modern warfare.
Other Pentagon officials say they expect Israel to
bargain hard not just with Syria, but with Washington
as well over how much intelligence, cash, technology,
and hardware will be necessary to reassure Israeli
leaders they can safely give up the Golan Heights.
(Signed).
NEB/JR/LTD/JO
07-Jan-2000 12:17 PM EDT (07-Jan-2000 1717 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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