Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: A rocky road to peace

Friday, May 28, 1999 | 10:26 a.m.

NEWLY ELECTED Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak may now be working on putting together his coalition government, but he has been working on peace programs behind the scenes for months. Knowledge of Barak's back channel negotiations with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was made public by the USA Today newspaper. This should come as no surprise to people who have watched Israeli leaders work quietly with other Arab leaders, including those of Jordan and Egypt. There's no lack of sub rosa diplomatic skills among Israeli leaders and their foreign service people.

Some political observers see very little difference between Barak and the man he defeated. They were given legitimate ammunition for this belief when the victor on election night restated his three "no's". No to dividing Jerusalem, no to dismantling the settlements and no to returning to the pre-1967 borders of Israel.

According to the USA Today story, it now appears that he can keep his first pledge about Jerusalem and still satisfy Arafat. If the story is accurate, the Palestinian Authority will set up headquarters in the nearby village of Abu Dis, which is within the site of the Old City of Jerusalem. The story goes on to say, "Arafat would give up his claim to large parts of Arab East Jerusalem, according to senior Israeli and Palestinian officials.

"In return, Barak would grant him control of the 150,000 Palestinians living in Jerusalem as well as a number of holy sites, the officials said."

If this plan becomes reality, Barak and Arafat can have their cake and eat it, too. There was little chance any Israeli leader could turn over their capital and the Western Wall of the Second Temple to the Palestinians or any other group. Remember, the Israelis were denied access to this holy site for almost 19 years by the Jordanians, who were driven from Jerusalem in 1967.

Dealing with Arafat and his PA is one thing, but much more difficult will be working out a plan to satisfy Syria's Hafez Assad. In 1994 Assad announced in Geneva that his country was ready for "normal, peaceful relations with Israel." Then he laid down demands that Israel leave their security zone in southern Lebanon and get off the Golan Heights before he would give peace further consideration. Unless this was done, he would continue to allow the Hezbollah guerrillas to be supplied ammunition for sending rockets into Israel's northern towns. Later he made it clear that the Israeli military forces leaving the security zone would mean little unless they also withdraw from the Golan. He added that a slow withdrawal wouldn't fulfill his demands. Little has been accomplished since then.

Assad's health has been questioned and maybe he is now willing to make some concessions. There's nothing in his history that indicates he has a soft spot for anything less than what he demands. His butchering of 20,000 innocent civilians and the razing of the old quarter of Hamas in 1982 was accomplished without hesitation.

During the Gulf War, Assad sent a token force to Desert Storm but insisted his troops couldn't go into Iraq, and he wouldn't allow United States warplanes to fly over Syria. When the conflict ended, our country encouraged Saudi Arabia to pay Syria $500 million, which he used to buy modern weapons from North Korea and China. While the world's eyes were on the Persian Gulf, Assad completed his killing of Lebanese Christians and turned that country into his puppet.

Calling Assad clever is truly an understatement. He has played the strings of diplomatic corps of several countries. Now he has an Israeli leader who pledges to take his troops out of the Lebanon security zone within a year. It will be most interesting to see what assurance Barak will have that rockets supplied by Iran and Syria won't continue to rain down on Israel's northern towns.

Will Barak abandon the southern Lebanon army that has sided with Israel? I recall the cry from the World Lebanese Organization in 1996 that asked Israel not to leave them without a "just and comprehensive solution." This solution included the withdrawal of the Syrian army from their country.

When all is said and done, the final disposition of peace along the Lebanese and Syrian borders may be the toughest job the new prime minister of Israel will face.