Israeli proposals to withdraw from the Golan

The Israeli daily Haaretz said on Sunday that Israel is waiting for a reply from Syrian President Hafez al-Assad concerning its proposal to resume the Syrian- Israeli peace talks, proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak through the US.

The paper added that concerning the border of June 4, 1967, the Israeli proposal suggests to have the whole of Tabaraya lake under Israeli sovereignty and therefore these borders will be almost 500 meters to the east of Tabaraya lake.

As for the early warning station on the Hermon mount, Israel intends to give concessions in keeping the position under its control for eight years, besides no timetable will be set for disarming the army, as the situation in the treaty signed between Israel and Egypt.

Haaretz added that the Americans realize Barak's needs for these two matters to make the people's referendum to be held to this effect successful, and therefor the Americans are trying to convince the Syrians to agree on the establishment of a certain sector to the east of Tabaraya lake as well as to accept an Israeli presence on the Hermon mount, at least during the withdrawal process period, which is approximately three years.

The Israeli paper continued that Syria expects the question of the referendum as a mere "Israeli deception," as stated by the writer of this report, Ze'ev Schiff.