World

Barak Denies Golan Deal

February 21, 2000 / 3:38 PM EST / AP

Israels Prime Minister Thursday denied reports that he has agreed to pull Israeli troops out of the disputed Golan Heights as part of peace talks with Syria.

The Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that Israel and Syria have been making contact through American mediators. The official U.S.-brokered talks broke off last month with the two sides deadlocked over the Golan issue.

In secret messages sent through the Americans, Israel agreed to Syria's demand for a full withdrawal from the strategic plateau, the mass circulation daily said.

But Israel has conditioned its redeployment on a Syrian pledge to restrain Lebanese guerrillas following an Israeli withdrawal from a border zone it occupies in south Lebanon, Maariv added.

Barak's office denied the Maariv report but would not elaborate.

Barak has promised to pull Israeli troops out of Lebanon by July in response to mounting public anger over the deaths of Israeli soldiers at the hands of Hezbollah guerrillas there.

The Golan Heights have long been strategically important in the region. Formerly part of Syria, the area was captured by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. Israel officially annexed the area in 1981.

The newspaper report came as Israel's Foreign Minister David Levy defended his warning that anti-Israeli attacks originating in Lebanon, where Syria is the main power broker, would be repaid in kind: ``Blood for blood, soul for soul, child for child.''

In his speech Wednesday to the Knesset, Levy warned that ``the ground of Lebanon will burn'' if guerrillas bombed Israel's northern communities. His remarks infuriated Arab legislators, who walked out of the parliament. Barak strongly defended Levy.

Also Thursday, Syrian government-controlled newspapers reacted with outrage today to Levy's remarks. Al-Baath, the newspaper of the ruling party, described Levy's threats as ``racist and hateful.''

The United States also scolded Levy.

``This kind of comment is inappropriate. We don't need rhetoric from anybody that inflames the situation,'' State Department spokesman James Rubin said Thursday in comments by telephone.

Meanwhile, leaders of the Palestinian Authority said on Thursday they would host foreign dignitaries at the PLO's headquarters in East Jerusalem in defiance of Israel.

``East Jerusalem is not part of Israel. It is occupied territory, and any senior visitor that meets with Israelis in West Jerusalem should meet with Palestinian leaders in East Jerusalem,'' Palestinian lawmaker Ziad Abu Zayyad told Reuters.

His comments followed a declaration by Palestinian Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Faisal al-Husseini that any VIPs hosted by Israeli officials in Jerusalem would be invited to Arab East Jerusalem's Orient House headquarters to meet with him.

Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967 and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally.

Barak said Monday that e would try to work out a new "package" of understandings with the Palestinians to break the impasse in peace talks.

The Palestinians say they will not resume contacts until they get answers from Barak on crucial issues, including a pledge that Israel carry out an additional West Bank troop pullback ahead of a final peace treaty, due in September.

The two sides have already missed a Feb. 13 deadline for reaching a peace treaty blueprint. Barak on Sunday proposed that negotiators extend the target date for a framework agreement to May. The Palestinians say the two sides should forget about a framework and instead focus on reaching a full treaty by September.