Support for talks lukewarm Barak to give Cabinet briefing

JERUSALEM Back home after two days of icebreaking meetings betweenSyria and Israel in Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barakfaces a possible rebellion within his own government.

The prime minister is scheduled to brief the Cabinet today on hispreliminary round of talks with Syrian Foreign minister Farouk al-Sharaa that ended Thursday in Washington.

Two of Barak's Cabinet ministers, the heads of small but keyfactions within the government, are expressing discomfort with thenegotiations and warn that they might pull their parties out of thecoalition if an accord with Syria includes the return of thestrategic Golan Heights. Both ministers, Yitzhak Levy of the NationalReligious Party and Natan Sharansky of Yisrael B'Aliya, say theywould fight to torpedo such an agreement.

The two leaders met last week to try to coordinate theiropposition to a withdrawal from the Golan, a fertile, picturesqueplateau that looms over the Sea of Galilee. Israel captured theheights in 1967, and 17,000 Israelis have since settled there. Syriainsists on the return of all of the territory.

If the two parties resign from the coalition, the loss of theirnine seats would leave Barak's government with 59 votes, two short ofa majority, although it could rely on support from Arab and left-leaning parties outside the coalition.

More significantly, though, defections could make it tougher forBarak to win the national referendum he has promised to hold on anypeace deal with Syria.

His peace initiative met with surprisingly tepid support from theKnesset (parliament) on the eve of his departure for Washington.

A divided or shrinking Cabinet could make it even more difficult.

Polls indicate that Israelis are about evenly split on whether totrade the Golan Heights for peace.

Levy's party, which has strong support among Jewish settlers inthe West Bank, says it will bolt the coalition if a peace accordmeans the return of the Golan to Syria and the removal of anysettlers from the area, seemingly an inevitable ingredient of anyworkable agreement.

"We have agreed that if the agreement will mean tearing downJewish, legal villages on the Golan - a transfer of those villages(to) some other place . . . we will no longer be a part of thisgovernment," said Yitzhak Rath, an aide to Levy, who is Barak'shousing minister.

Sharansky's objections are rooted in his view that Syria, a hard-line Arab state with a closed society, is not a stable or trustworthypeace partner.

He argued in an interview Thursday that any Israeli concessionsmust be proportionate to "the transparency and openness of Syriansociety," and not linked to early warning stations or other securityarrangements on the Golan.

A former dissident in the old Soviet Union, Sharansky said hedoubts that the talks between Syrian and Israeli negotiators, whichare due to resume near Washington in early January, will produce anaccord that his party can support. Yisrael B'Aliya's membership ismade up mainly of immigrants from the former Soviet Union and oftenis hawkish on territorial and security issues.

A third coalition member, the powerful religious party, Shas,appears to be on the fence on the Syria issue. The party abstainedfrom a parliament vote Monday on Barak's initiative with Syria.

President Ezer Weizman, a strong supporter of the peace process,has tried to help Barak win support for his talks with Syria, holdingdiscussions last week with Sharansky, Levy, and Shas leader EliYishai.

The talks with Syria come as Barak faces a deadline to work outdetails of a peace deal with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Israeli officials said Saturday that Barak will meet with Arafatsoon to try to ease Palestinian fears that they will be brushed asidewith the renewal of Israeli-Syrian talks.

"I estimate that I will meet him in the near future," Barak toldIsrael television. "Our intention is to, the entire way, to holdsimultaneous negotiations . . . without any track stopping the otheror being played one against the other by us."

The United States expects Barak and Arafat to iron out a frameworkfor an accord on the thorniest issues between them in time for anexpected summit with President Clinton in February. The sides haveset Feb. 13 as a deadline for an agreement on the framework.

In addition, Arafat expects Israel to quickly implement overdueaspects of interim agreements, namely an Israeli withdrawal from fivepercent of the West Bank and the prisoner release.

Arafat will also demand that Barak cease all Jewish settlementactivity in the areas the Palestinians hope to make into a state,another Palestinian official said on condition of anonymity.