ISRAELI LEADER CONFIRMS PEACE DEAL WITH SYRIA.

Byline: Associated Press 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Thursday that his predecessor had tacitly agreed to give back all of the Golan Heights in exchange for a peace agreement with Syria.

``Newspaper reports that the late prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, indirectly agreed to withdraw from the Golan Heights, to the June 4, 1967, lines (if) a number of conditions were met by the Syrians, and that this agreement has been conveyed to the United States, are true,'' Netanyahu told his Cabinet.

Netanyahu's comments were issued in a Cabinet statement after he briefed ministers on his talks this week with President Clinton, who has sponsored the Mideast peace process and is trying to help restart stalled Israel-Syria talks.

Netanyahu, who was elected in May, said the United States accepts that ``hypothetical statements made by the previous government during the negotiations do not obligate the present Israeli government.''

The revelations about Rabin, published Wednesday in the Yediot Ahronot daily, shocked many Israelis and were denied by several officials who were close to Rabin. Shimon Peres, who was premier from Rabin's assassination in November until his narrow election loss, was evasive.

``I didn't see a written commitment, but it was made clear to the Syrians that Israel was willing to withdraw for full peace,'' Yediot quoted Peres as saying.

Syria has demanded that talks pick up where they left off with the previous government. Netanyahu argues that they should start from scratch since there were no written agreements and says Israel should hold onto the plateau it captured in 1967.