
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 12, 1991                   TAG: 9102120006
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

ISRAEL ASKED TO CONSIDER TALKS ON GOLAN HEIGHTS

The Bush administration, seizing on Syria's improved relations with the United States, is asking Israel to consider seeking an agreement with its militant Arab neighbor to demilitarize the disputed Golan Heights, sources disclosed Monday.

The idea behind the proposal, which was advanced recently by Secretary of State James Baker to Zalman Shoval, the Israeli ambassador, is to engage Syria in Mideast negotiations fresh after cooperating in the war against Iraq.

The talks would be held at the conclusion of the Persian Gulf conflict as a first step toward a wider settlement of the Arab-Israeli dispute.

The Israeli government has not rejected the initiative, but interest in it in Jerusalem was said to be limited, according to the sources, who demanded anonymity.

Some U.S. officials were dubious, meanwhile, that Syria would be willing to consider even a partial deal with Israel. President Hafez Assad has boycotted all U.S. diplomatic initiatives in the Middle East since 1974.

Syria controlled the Golan Heights, from which guerrillas fired rockets on villages in northern Israel, until the 1967 Six-Day War. It recovered part of the territory through the mediation of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 1974. Israel annexed the rest in 1981.

The U.S. proposal, which surfaced as Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens held a busy round of talks here, would not require Israel to relinquish more of the Golan Heights to Syria.

Arens, meanwhile, delivered a message to President Bush from Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir stressing the continuing threat to Israel posed by Iraqi Scud missiles.

As they talked in the Oval Office there was word of a 12th Iraqi attack on Israel. A Scud landed in a deserted area in the center of the country, causing no damage.

Bush rushed Patriot missiles and U.S. crews to Israel to defend the country against the Scuds. Still, Arens stressed "the need to remove this threat, even though it has diminished," Ruth Yaron, spokeswoman for the Israeli embassy, said.

Arens, who is seeing Baker and Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, is not believed to be requesting additional Patriots from the United States.

by CNB