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DATE=1/7/2000 TYPE=BACKGROUNDER TITLE=U-S MILITARY/SYRIA/ISRAEL NUMBER=5-45197 BYLINE=JIM RANDLE DATELINE=PENTAGON CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: While Israel and Syria continue to negotiate a difficult peace deal, analysts with long experience in the Middle East and military affairs say it is likely to take large amounts of U-S money, military power and intelligence information to get the two sides to sign an agreement. V-O-A's Jim Randle reports from the Pentagon. TEXT: At the heart of any Israel-Syria peace deal will be the issue of security -- namely which country will control the strategic Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 war. Much of Israel was once vulnerable to Syrian artillery positions on this high ground. But in the last 30 years, Israel has used the strategic Golan to keep track of Syrian troop movements and eavesdrop on Syrian telephone and radio communications. Israeli leaders have indicated they are now prepared to return the Golan in exchange for certain security guarantees. But the nature of those guarantees is what will make or break a peace deal between Syria and Israel. Technology and U-S assistance maybe the keys. Intelligence expert John Pike, of the Federation of American Scientists, says improvements in Israeli and U-S spy technology may convince top Israeli officials that they can safely keep watch over their neighbor's military without the Golan. /// PIKE ACT /// The Israelis really value the Golan Heights for intelligence collection. The Israelis now have better (spy) airplanes than they did when they got the Golan Heights. The United States has better (spy) satellites. And if we are prepared to share our intelligence with the Israelis, they might be prepared to give up the Golan Heights. /// END ACT /// Other security experts say American troops and financial aid will also have to be part of the deal before Israel will relinquish the Golan Heights. Former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft says (in an article he wrote for the New York Times) that the Israelis will want a strong and substantial U-S presence - including combat troops - to help monitor and patrol the newly-drawn borders between Israel and Syria. But Pentagon officials are not eager to make a major new, open-ended commitment of troops and equipment when they are already straining to handle deployments in Kosovo, Korea, Bosnia, the Persian Gulf and elsewhere. Questions have also been raised about the willingness of a Republican-dominated U-S Congress to vote billions of dollars in aid to bolster a foreign policy success for the Democratic Clinton Administration during a presidential election year. During the last legislative session, Congress tied up funds for implementation of the Wye River peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians. Lawmakers only relented at the very end of the budget process. But Charles Hill, diplomat in residence at Yale University, with long experience in the Middle East, dismisses such worries. /// HILL ACT /// I think the package will get through, no matter what. This is so serious, this is so important. It is the culmination of decades of work by the United States. Even with all of the reluctance in the Pentagon, questions of (the U-S) Congress being willing to fund it, it just is not going to be stopped if there is anything like a reasonable package that comes out of this negotiation. /// END ACT /// Pentagon spokesman Craig Quigley says U-S officials have had consultations and discussions with Israeli leaders about the Jewish state's security needs and what the United States can do to help. He says the Israelis arrived with a `detailed' shopping list, and Washington is likely to give at least some help. /// QUIGLEY ACT /// Substantive commitments, of perhaps, items, or money, or people, over a period of time. I think it is in our nation's interest, it is in the region's interest, it is in the world's interest, to have that part of the world, the Middle East, be a peaceful place. /// END ACT /// Admiral Quigley would give no specifics and would not confirm reports that the Israelis have asked for top U-S weapons like the cruise missile, airborne early warning aircraft, and other expensive high-tech tools of modern warfare. Other Pentagon officials say they expect Israel to bargain hard not just with Syria, but with Washington as well over how much intelligence, cash, technology, and hardware will be necessary to reassure Israeli leaders they can safely give up the Golan Heights. (Signed). NEB/JR/LTD/JO 07-Jan-2000 12:17 PM EDT (07-Jan-2000 1717 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .