DATE=3/7/2000
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=ISRAEL'S LEBANON PULLOUT
NUMBER=6-11716
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
CONTENT=
INTRO: In the Middle East, U-S special envoy Dennis
Ross was scheduled to arrive back in the area Tuesday
for more talks, as the United States tries to get the
peace process moving again.
There were both positive and negative developments on
Middle East peace this week, as efforts were made to
recapture the momentum of a few months ago, when
Israel and Syria sat down together in West Virginia.
The U-S press is watching, vigilant as ever, and in
the editorial columns there is more assessment of the
situation. Here, now, with a summary, is
_____________ and our U-S Opinion Roundup.
TEXT: In a pronouncement certain to heighten debate,
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Tuesday that
this is the year a Palestinian state will be
proclaimed -- with or without peace with Israel.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, the Israeli cabinet approved
Prime Minister Ehud Barak's commitment to pull Israeli
troops out of southern Lebanon by July. For the past
18 years, Israel and its Lebanese Christian militia
allies have occupied a strip of southern Lebanon about
14-and-one-half kilometers deep, to protect against
guerilla attacks.
As The Boston Globe pointed out in its lead story
Monday, there is not much time left to bring about an
agreement between Israel and the Palestinians and
Israel and Syria. President Clinton has less than 10
months left in office, and Syrian President Hafez al-
Assad's health is said to be poor. The Globe quotes
an unnamed U-S official as saying the Israeli cabinet
decision confirming the Lebanon pullout by July put
pressure on all sides.
We begin our sampling in Florida, where The Miami
Herald praises what it terms a "brave" decision by the
Israeli government.
VOICE: Israel's decision to leave southern
Lebanon is a gamble -- but it's a risk worth
taking. Sunday's unanimous Cabinet approval of
Israeli plans to withdraw troops by July
strengthens Prime Minister Ehud Barak's hand to
broker peace and restart negotiations with
Syria, which stalled in January. ... Syria's
leadership calls the threatened unilateral
withdrawal "suicidal," darkly hinting of danger
to Israeli troops during an exit. But Israel
knows well how to defend itself, and will do so
whenever necessary. Moreover, it will gain
twofold with withdrawal -- first, by permanently
removing troops from harm's way, and also by
denying Syria a bargaining chip. Knowing that
the Cabinet at least is solidly behind this
portion of his peace agenda, Mr. Barak must now
devote his energies to mending rifts within his
coalition government and finding ways to get
peace negotiations restarted.
TEXT: The Dallas Morning News is concerned about the
costs to the United States associated with these next
steps toward peace, especially Israel's price tag for
surrendering the Golan Heights back to Syria.
VOICE: What price peace? It is in the interest
of the United States for Israeli, Syrian,
Lebanese and Palestinian leaders to end the war
on Israel's northern border and resolve issues
over Palestinian status. ... That's why the U-S,
as it supports the peace process, should keep in
mind how much it is willing to take on as its
financial share of the commitment to buy peace.
... Israel has said it is asking now for 17-
billion dollars in U-S support to ensure its
security if it returns the Golan Heights to
Syria. ... Although the U-S wants to see peace
in the Middle East, it should be sensitive to
several issues [including]:
-- The possibility of destabilizing the area
and provoking an arms race if Israel, which
is already highly militarized, is given too
much assistance that can be converted to
offensive use.
-- The appetite of the American public to
continually support Middle East peace without
more participation from other world players.
TEXT: The Boston Globe comments on a previous Israeli
cabinet meeting [Feb. 27] at which Prime Minister Ehud
Barak revealed some of Israel's secret plans for the
future of the Golan Heights, made years ago.
VOICE: A dramatic step was taken on the path
toward an Israeli-Syrian peace agreement ...
when Israeli Prime Minister ... Barak told his
Cabinet that Yitzhak Rabin, before his
assassination in 1995, had given conditional
assurances to Syria that Israel would withdraw
completely from the Golan Heights as part of a
comprehensive peace accord. [Mr.] Barak's
swiftly-leaked disclosure was interpreted as a
trial balloon, meant to prepare Israeli public
opinion for the compromises that will be
necessary to forge a peace treaty with Syria.
... The primary effect of [Mr.] Barak's
revelation is to signal that Israel now
acknowledges Syrian contentions about Rabin's
conditional offer and tacitly accepts
[President] Assad's demand that bargaining begin
where it left off five years ago. ... With this
gesture of accommodation, [Mr.] Barak has
invited [President] Assad back to the bargaining
table. It is now up to the Syrian dictator to
end his boycott of the American-sponsored talks,
and to begin telling Israel what kind of
security arrangements he is willing to make on
the Golan and in southern Lebanon.
TEXT: Lastly, The [Cleveland, Ohio] Plain Dealer is
concerned about a vote in the Knesset, the Israeli
parliament, that would make it tougher to win popular
approval of any peace treaty returning the Golan
Heights to Syria. The parliament decided that a
majority of all Israelis, not just those taking part
in a referendum, must approve such a treaty. The
Plain Dealer goes on to say:
VOICE: Various factors may influence those who
wish to keep the Golan, including concern for
Jewish settlers who might have to leave under a
peace agreement. But above all probably ranks
apprehension about Israel's security, should
Syrians regain the high ground from which they
once rained artillery fire on Jewish
communities. So [President] Assad should ponder
what he might do to win the trust of a majority
of Israelis. Nothing concrete along those lines
was forthcoming in Syria's recent talks with the
Israelis. ... To his credit, [Prime Minister]
Barak has promised to keep trying, reminding
Israelis that he was elected to put new energy
into the peace process.
TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of
comment from U-S editorial pages on the latest
developments in the always-complicated Middle East
peace process.
NEB/ANG/WTW
07-Mar-2000 15:48 PM EDT (07-Mar-2000 2048 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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