ARABS-ISRAEL - Feb. 29 - Barak's Office Denies Syrian Talks Will Resume.

Arab diplomats in Amman say Syria and Israel would resume peace talks in late March, but PM Barak's office in Jerusalem denies the report. A senior Arab diplomatic source says: "Syrian-Israeli negotiations will resume after Eid Al Adha in the US", adding, "an announcement is expected to that effect in the next 10 days or 2 weeks". (The Muslim holiday, which depends on the sighting of the moon, is expected to end on Mar. 19.) Barak's office responds in a statement: "We have no information on the renewal of the talks and certainly no information on a date for renewing the talks". After Barak met in Israel with a senior adviser to Egyptian Pres. Mubarak, his office says the PM repeated his pledge to push forward on both the Palestinian and Syrian peace tracks. The Arab diplomatic source says: "Intense contacts have paid off and Washington is putting the final touches on a formula to allow the resumption of the talks". The diplomat says the US compromise stipulated that Syrian and Israeli subcommittees dealing with borders, security arrangements, and normalisation of ties would meet simultaneously to discuss the various issues. Another senior Arab diplomat says: "The technical has become political", adding, "all committees will meet at the same time to discuss technical and political issues". On Feb. 28, the US said that an "enormous amount" of work remained to be done before Israeli-Syrian peace talks could resume, although officials confirm contacts were under way to break the deadlock. A close aide to both Barak and assassinated Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin said, on Feb. 28, that Rabin had told Washington in 1993 he would be willing to cede the Golan to Syria in exchange for a full peace. (The first such acknowlegment is a key signal to Syria, which has for years demanded Israel confirms the pledge that it calls "Rabin's deposit".)

The diplomats say the factors that pressured Syria and Israel into the reported compromise on a resumption of talks were the potentially explosive situation in Lebanon and the approach of the US presidential election campaign. (Israel destroyed 3 power stations in Lebanon in February.) The diplomats say the start of the US election campaign in about 4 months would send the vital US role into the hold mode for at least 8 months. The diplomat says: "One can't see any meaningful movement on the Syrian-Israeli track without the full involvement of the US".

Mar. 3 - Support For A Lebanon Pullout Rises: According to an official poll published in 'Maariv', 6 out of 10 Israelis want their troops out of south Lebanon with or without a deal with Syria. The Gallup poll shows 61% backed a unilateral pullout of troops from an occupation zone in south Lebanon, up from 56% 3 weeks ago. (PM Barak has promised to pull Israeli troops out of the occupied area by July, but prefers to do so after reaching a peace deal with Lebanon and Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon. Public support for an immediate withdrawal has grown since Hizbollah guerrillas killed 7 Israeli soldiers starting in January. Israeli air raids also hit 3 power stations and wounded 20 Lebanese.) The poll of 670 people, taken on Mar. 1, finds that 31% opposed a unilateral withdrawal from the zone Israel set up in south Lebanon in 1985. 8% have no opinion. The margin of error is 4.5%. (This week the Israeli cabinet began debating the issue, while talks with Syria, renewed in December after a 4-year break, stalled in January.)

Official Says Fight Will Be Won: Responding to Palestinian threats to take over disputed West Bank land, Israeli Police Minister Shlomo Ben Ami warns that Israel would win any confrontation with Palestinian police. Ben Ami makes the comments after Palestinian parliament speaker Ahmad Qureia said Palestinian security forces were prepared to occupy parts of the West Bank if Israel refuses to carry out land transfer agreements. The verbal escalation comes a day after Israeli security forces destroyed a weapons cache of the Islamic militant group Hamas and killed 3 Hamas gunmen who officials say had plotted to carry out large-scale bombing attacks in Israel. The hideout, an apartment in the Arab town of Taibeh in northern Israel, was seized and destroyed after a day of clashes, complete with bombs and gunfire. With help from Palestinian security forces, Israel has succeeded in thwarting several terrorist attacks in recent weeks, but Ben Ami warns that Palestinian militants were not giving up. (Frustration has run high in the Palestinian areas because of the freeze in peace talks. Negotiations over implementing an interim peace accord broke down in February in disagreement over which territories the Israelis would hand over. Talks on a final peace treaty also are frozen.) On Mar. 2, Qureia hinted at a violent confrontation with Israel over the disputed land - the 1st time a senior Palestinian leader has done so. He said Israel must turn over 93% of the West Bank under the interim accords. He charged that Israel was trying to evade its obligations. Qureia said: "We will deliver it [the land] to ourselves and we will put our Palestinian police there" if the delays continue.

Responding on Mar. 3, Ben Ami says the Palestinians should not "add a war of words to the existing political disagreements". He says the Palestinians "understand very well that in unilateral steps, Israel is stronger". (The portion of the West Bank that Qureia referred to is now under Palestinian civilian control, but Israel is in charge of security. A unilateral move by uniformed Palestinian forces to secure the territory would probably spark an Israeli response.) Anticipating a tough Israeli reaction, Qureia - a key negotiator in reaching the first accord in 1993 - said the Palestinian move would not be easy, but "the Palestinian people must be prepared for any developments".

(The interim agreements are vague concerning land transfers. They say that in the final stage before a full peace treaty, only Jewish settlements, border areas and specified military locations should remain in Israeli hands. The Palestinians, who now control 40% of the West Bank, take that to mean they should be controlling more than 90% of the land. Israel has disputed that interpretation and has said those expectations are unrealistic. Despite the breakdown in talks, Israeli and Palestinian security forces have continued to co-operate on preventing terrorist attacks.) Acting on tips from Palestinian intelligence, Israeli forces surrounded the Taibeh apartment early Mar. 2. 1 man inside surrendered, and 2 others were killed. Police opened fire again as a bulldozer destroyed the building, and 2 bodies were discovered under the rubble. PM Barak said the operation prevented a terrorist attack against Israelis.