May 20, 1999
 

                JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud
                Barak said in an interview published on Thursday he could have
                Israeli troops out of Lebanon in less than a year.

                But the former army chief gave himself some wiggle room, saying
                the pullout he promised voters in his winning campaign to oust
                right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might take a little
                longer.

                "I will not ask for a medal if I finish it in 10 months and I will not
                jump off a roof if it takes 13 months. In my view it won't take even
                one year to complete," Barak told the Maariv newspaper.

                Israel has occupied parts of south Lebanon since 1978. It set up
                its self-declared security zone in 1985 to stop guerrilla attacks on
                northern Israel but its soldiers in south Lebanon are targeted
                daily by pro-Iranian Hizbollah fighters.

                In a separate interview with the Yedioth Ahronoth daily, Barak
                said his plan for withdrawing troops was rooted in a renewal of
                talks with Syria, the main powerbroker in Lebanon.

                Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara told European Union
                envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos on Wednesday that only actions
                would show Barak's commitment to making peace with Israel's
                neighbours.

                An official spokesman said that Shara affirmed during the
                meeting Syria's readiness to resume peace talks with Israel from
                the point where they left off with the previous Labour-led Israeli
                government.

                Moratinos said after meeting Shara: "I think the (Syrian-Israeli)
                peace talks can resume as soon as possible."

                Syria has held sporadic negotiations with Israel since 1991, but
                the talks broke off in early 1996 without agreement on the future
                of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East
                War.

                Damascus contends that under the last Labour administration,
                Israel gave the U.S. government, as a sponsor of the peace talks,
                a commitment to withdraw from the Golan to the pre-war June 4,
                1967 borders as part of a comprehensive settlement.

                Barak, Israel's most decorated soldier, told Maariv the next two
                years of Middle East peacemaking would be so crucial he
                wanted to keep the powerful defence ministry for himself.

                "For the initial stage -- the first two years, which will determine
                whether there is a diplomatic breakthrough or not -- I estimate
                that my holding of the defence portfolio will contribute a lot,"
                Barak said.