ARABS-ISRAEL - Jan. 1 - Egyptian Envoy Urged Sharon To Do More For Peace Plan.

After meeting with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, special Egyptian envoy and Pres. Hosni Bubarak's advisor Dr. Osama Al Baz urges Israeli PM Ariel Sharon's government to do more to further the peace process. Egypt has been trying to broker a truce among the militant Palestinian factions including Hamas and Islamic Jihad. A truce is considered vital to revive the stalled road map for peace talks; but Hamas has vowed revenge for a Dec. 31 Israeli missile attack, the first in 2 months, which failed to kill a militant leader. The mood of pessimism over talks has been deepened by continuing construction of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank, where several protesters were injured by Israeli rubber bullets on Jan. 1. Israel decided on Dec. 31 to deport 4 foreigners, including a member of the Swedish parliament, who were arrested during an earlier demonstration. Baz says: "We hope that Israel should exert parallel efforts to those exerted by the Palestinian Authority, by us and by the international community".

Washington has expressed concern about Israeli plans to expand Jewish settlements in the Golan Heights, seized from Syria during the 1967 war and annexed in 1981. On Dec. 31 Israel revealed a scheme to increase by about a third the number of Jewish settlers in the Golan. Israeli government officials insisted on Jan. 1 that the plan was not a snub to a recent proposal from Syria's President Bashar Al Assad for fresh peace talks, but rather part of efforts to develop agriculture and tourism. However, a poll for Israel Radio showed that 53% of Israelis supported an expansion of the settlements and 68% believed there would be no peace talks with Syria in the near future. Previous polls have indicated less support for the settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where construction is supposed to cease under the US-backed road map to make way for an eventual Palestinian state. The Sharon government is reported to be split over whether to take advantage of Syria's weak international position and reopen negotiations. "The next time Syria and Israel clash in a war, the [Israeli army] will reach Damascus with the same lightning speed [with which] American troops made it to Baghdad last spring", a senior Israeli officer was quoted as saying by the Haaretz daily (see Syria below).

A relative lull in violence in recent months has focused attention in Israel on how to reach peace with Syria and the Palestinians as well as on Israeli tactics. More than 2,290 Palestinians and 840 Israelis have been killed during the intifada, which started on Sept. 28, 2000. The Israeli military has come under growing criticism over its tough measures. The Israeli army said on Dec. 31 it had arrested a soldier in connection with the shooting of Tom Hurndall, a 21-year-old British peace activist who has been in a deep coma since April 11.